After 25 years in the entertainment industry, Mandla Ngcongwane is set to release a passion project on Netflix that depicts the state of the music scene in South Africa today.
The new film titled Piano Love is a love story set in the streets of Soweto and stars rapper Kwesta and media personality and choreographer Bontle Modiselle-Moloi.
"I had to do something nice and huge for the culture. I couldn't find anyone to finance so I financed it myself andsold it to Netflix," Mandla told TshisaLIVE.
With this being Kwesta's acting debut, Mandla said he took the Ngud hitmaker through coaching and training to get him camera-ready.
"The decision to take Kwesta, who is an iconic rapper who understands the people and can speak vernac and English very well, a township kid can definitely relate to Kwesta. He understands the journey of music,"
"The biggest challenge was how I converted a musician to an actor so he could hold the story. I had some coaching lessons and guided him. I took the time to try and get the emotions and essence of the scenes and he gave me exactly what I needed. He understands the journey of hip-hop culture taking a backseat to 'piano. There was a lot of personal experiences he could bring to the storyline."
Mandla said because Bontle is a multifaceted star, he wanted to showcase her acting skills.
"Bontle understands the culture, dance and amapiano. From an acting point of view, bringing her to this side was me cementing her acting. The chemistry was something else, it was out of this world. They are fans of each other which made it easy for them to be a couple in the movie."
Mandla N on casting Kwesta and Bontle Modiselle for Netflix’s ‘Piano Love’
‘I had to do something nice and huge for the culture’
Image: Black Brain Pictures
After 25 years in the entertainment industry, Mandla Ngcongwane is set to release a passion project on Netflix that depicts the state of the music scene in South Africa today.
The new film titled Piano Love is a love story set in the streets of Soweto and stars rapper Kwesta and media personality and choreographer Bontle Modiselle-Moloi.
"I had to do something nice and huge for the culture. I couldn't find anyone to finance so I financed it myself andsold it to Netflix," Mandla told TshisaLIVE.
With this being Kwesta's acting debut, Mandla said he took the Ngud hitmaker through coaching and training to get him camera-ready.
"The decision to take Kwesta, who is an iconic rapper who understands the people and can speak vernac and English very well, a township kid can definitely relate to Kwesta. He understands the journey of music,"
"The biggest challenge was how I converted a musician to an actor so he could hold the story. I had some coaching lessons and guided him. I took the time to try and get the emotions and essence of the scenes and he gave me exactly what I needed. He understands the journey of hip-hop culture taking a backseat to 'piano. There was a lot of personal experiences he could bring to the storyline."
Mandla said because Bontle is a multifaceted star, he wanted to showcase her acting skills.
"Bontle understands the culture, dance and amapiano. From an acting point of view, bringing her to this side was me cementing her acting. The chemistry was something else, it was out of this world. They are fans of each other which made it easy for them to be a couple in the movie."
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