Making Money Making Movies

Keeping up with the Kandasamys, a local movie set in Chatsworth, Durban, raked in a remarkable R1.6-million at the box office on opening weekend.

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We chatted to the film’s director, Jayan Moodley, about what went in to making a family comedy that’s got South African audiences filling up seats...

Q How did keeping up with the kandasamys develop from initial idea into box office hit?

The idea and story developed over a few years; we knew we wanted to do something different and fresh and we knew it had to have comedy as its centre. But more than that, and this is what I believe has made it successful, it had to be comedy with heart. So we were chartering new ground as the South African cinema scene does not offer much in the way of family comedy and we were keen to pave the way for more films of this genre. When we saw a callout for proposals by Junaid Ahmed we seized the opportunity and so began the journey.