Meren Reddy nets big laughs as the lead in ‘Lucky Fish’

I KNEW of Meren Reddy from his City Ses‘la work as an executive producer and actor long before I met him at the launch of SABC3’s High Rollers.

- DEBASHINE THANGEVELO

While unpacking the latter show, he revealed his innovative thinking as a creative and his ardent passion for storytelling.

Fast forward several years, post the disruptive Covid-19 pandemic, it was awesome to reach out to Reddy again, this time to chat about Lucky Fish, a comedy feature where he wears the hats of co-writer with Craig Gardner, executive producer, as well as the film’s lead, Sanjay Pillay.

Reddy’s admirable candour during our conversation was humbling, and I appreciated the trust he placed in me. Our several off-the-record deviations will, of course, remain confidential.

The film’s title is a tribute to the canned fish, which has been a staple in South African homes for many generations.

The feelgood comedy centres on a small-town sardine-canning company owner, facing financial troubles, who sponsors a beauty pageant as a publicity stunt. He is joined by his twin sister, Samantha (Mayuri Naidu) anda motley group of beauty queen hopefuls.

On how Lucky Fish came to fruition, Reddy took me back to its very beginning.

He said: “This is gonna be a long rambling, but a very significant thing to say is that it is the coming together of Craig Gardner, who is a writer-director who created Suburban Bliss, and the creator of City Ses’la. I’m just giving you a context of the two brains behind it.”

“So around 2006, I didn’t know who Craig was (at the time), he did a pilot called Miss Pilchards with Stephen Francis, who is the cartoonist for Madam & Eve, for M-Net, that is completely different to what the movie is now. It was sort of amockumentary at that point, and it was going to bea television show.”