'Keeping Up With The Kandasamys' is a cinematic love letter to Durban's Chatsworth

22 February 2017 - 02:00 By Shelley Seid
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Actresses Jailoshini Naidoo and Maeshni Naicker on set of 'Keeping up with the Kandasamys' which was filmed in Chatsworth, Durban.
Actresses Jailoshini Naidoo and Maeshni Naicker on set of 'Keeping up with the Kandasamys' which was filmed in Chatsworth, Durban.
Image: Jackie Clausen

New Zealand has seen a 50% increase in the number of tourists to its shores since 'Lord of the Rings' hit the international circuit in 2001.

Since its release in 2011 Game of Thrones, the HBO fantasy drama, has brought over 150 million pounds in tourism to Ireland, the location of the popular series.

Highclere Castle — the real Downton Abbey — was teetering on the brink of financial crisis before the historical period drama television series started a tourism phenomenon.

It’s called “set jetting” — the desire to visit places, villages and towns featured in films or on TV —and it’s a growing tourism trend.

story_article_left1

We’ve not yet seen much set jetting here in South Africa but the likeliest local candidate is Chatsworth, south of Durban, home to the new romcom, Keeping up with the Kandasamys, due for release countrywide on March 3.

The late Junaid Ahmed who produced the movie with Helena Spring called it his “love letter to Chatsworth”.

Keeping up with the Kandasamys takes you on a whirlwind tour of Chatsworth — into homes, wedding halls, along busy streets and past iconic landmarks.

The story centres around two matriarchal rivals of neighbouring families, played by Jailoshini Naidoo and Maeshni Naicker, who, when their young adult children become romantically involved, conspire together to break them up.

The Chatsworth of the movie — the vibrant, bustling, half a million strong suburb was until the late 1950s land belonging to 600 Indian farmers. Over 5,000 acres of productive banana production was expropriated by the Apartheid government for the creation of an Indian area.

By the early 1960 thousands of Indians from in and around Durban had been forcibly relocated to the hastily built dormitory township.

But Chatsworth developed an indomitable spirit; today it is a thriving economy, and can boast a hospital, a host of temples, bustling shopping centres, hotels, home industries and an iconic market.

WATCH the trailer for 'Keeping Up With The Kandasamys'

 

If you are going to visit Chatsworth do so on a Friday or Saturday when the Bangladesh market is open. There is of course fresh produce but you will find anything and everything else from nail clippers to bushknives to spices, from earings to reading glasses to toothpaste. Get yourself a couple of snacks or a kebab, and have a chat with the locals.

Another spot worth a visit is the Savera Hotel that early last year opened a museum spanning six rooms in the hotel that traces the history of the Indians in South Africa. It’s a great place for the hungry to lunch because a “third” bunny is on offer instead of a quarter.

Food features highly in Chatsworth and probably the best vegan meal in Durban can be had at the Hare Krishna Sri Sri Radhanath Temple of Understanding. Situated in the midst of beautifully tended gardens this awe-inspiring ornate temple is designed in the shape of a lotus plant. The steeples are gold tipped, the roof silver, the inside filled with frescos, crystal chandeliers and gold statues.

And looked out for pimped cars, with serious sound systems and taxis called Shy Guy, Overcomer and Twosome — every Chats taxi has a name.

• This article was originally published in The Times.

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now