The biggest downer for Mandla Ngcongwane in 2022 was coming to terms with his telenovela Diep City coming to an end. But having had many other successful shows, the actor and director is excited to be returning to his comedy roots in celebration of 25 years in the South African film and television industry.
“Diep City came to an end despite it being one of the biggest shows but at least the highlight was the inception of Black Door and people are still speaking about it today.
"It's been a whirlwind of emotion, from when I started to how it's grown we're always creating new exciting content ... I started when I was 19 now years later it's quite a humbling experience.” he told TshisaLIVE.
Mandla's first hit show was City Ses’la, a comedy show that kept viewers in stitches for two seasons between 2005 and 2007, now the Black Brain Pictures founder is going back to where it all began with a new 13-part comedy series on Mzanzi Magic titled Lenyalo Ha se Papadi.
“It's the lighter side of divorce ... so you will get some heavy moments, a lot of South Africans will relate. I relate heavily because I've been through that entire process so it's a personal story that can help find healing for a lot of people ... the beauty about it is that we've got some nice fresh faces and legends.”
Mandla N celebrates 25 years in film with a new comedy show about divorce
Image: Black Brain Pictures
The biggest downer for Mandla Ngcongwane in 2022 was coming to terms with his telenovela Diep City coming to an end. But having had many other successful shows, the actor and director is excited to be returning to his comedy roots in celebration of 25 years in the South African film and television industry.
“Diep City came to an end despite it being one of the biggest shows but at least the highlight was the inception of Black Door and people are still speaking about it today.
"It's been a whirlwind of emotion, from when I started to how it's grown we're always creating new exciting content ... I started when I was 19 now years later it's quite a humbling experience.” he told TshisaLIVE.
Mandla's first hit show was City Ses’la, a comedy show that kept viewers in stitches for two seasons between 2005 and 2007, now the Black Brain Pictures founder is going back to where it all began with a new 13-part comedy series on Mzanzi Magic titled Lenyalo Ha se Papadi.
“It's the lighter side of divorce ... so you will get some heavy moments, a lot of South Africans will relate. I relate heavily because I've been through that entire process so it's a personal story that can help find healing for a lot of people ... the beauty about it is that we've got some nice fresh faces and legends.”
The comedy series is set to star Mapaseka Koetle-Nyokong and Meshack Mavuso.
“I was in the drama space now everyone is doing drama, so the content is starting to look the same. When we were doing comedy people were moving towards that trend ... no one is doing comedy right now, so maybe now when we move into the genre people will be inspired by that.
“I know comedy and understand it because that's where my roots are. So this is going to be very different, it's not like the comedy they used to do back in the day. Always looking at where the trends are going is what kept us right at the top. People were craving to see people like SK Khoza and we gave them that. So for us, we listen to the masses then we execute. It's constant alignment.”
Lenyalo Ha se Papadi is set to air every Monday, from January 9 on Mzansi Magic (Channel 161) at 8pm.
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