Carishma Basday makes waves in Deep End
It is a coming of age film that deals with the bond between an Indian father and his daughter.
The film Deep End, written and directed by Eubulus Timothy of Durban, has been selected to close out the Ugu Film Festival at Ster-Kinekor Shelly Beach this Sunday (26th).
The festival takes place at Margate Hotel from today, Friday (24th).
ALSO READ : Seventh Ugu Film Festival to focus on strides made by female filmmakers
It’s the seventh edition of the festival, presented by Sollywood Films in partnership with The National Film and Video Foundation and Ugu South Coast Tourism.
The focus this year will be on female filmmakers through an initiative dubbed ‘Through the Lenses of South African Women’.
Lead actress in Deep End is Mella presenter Carishma Basday, who plays the role of Sunitha.
Carishma is formerly from Port Shepstone and is still very proud of her home town.
“For me, this was a role of a lifetime. I never thought that as an Indian actress I would get to play such a diverse leading role,” she said.
“Sunitha represents so much of who I am and how I want to inspire the world. She is a maverick, yet remains true to herself. We desperately need more roles written like this for women of colour.”
The film has won numerous awards, both locally and internationally, including Best Picture and Best Director at the 2019 Simon Sabela Awards and the Hartley-Merrill Screenwriting Award in Hollywood.
It is a coming of age film that deals with the bond between an Indian father and his daughter.
Sunitha comes from a traditional, close-knit Indian family living in the multi-cultural city of Durban.
However, Sunitha’s secret desire to surf brings major conflict.
It’s not an acceptable sport for a young Indian girl who is of marriageable age.
Yet one day she has the opportunity to learn how to surf and she finally grabs it.
She falls for troubled American surfer, Cory who is struggling with drug addiction.
The conflict intensifies when her father, who is deeply uncomfortable with her surfing, would rather have her focus on finding a good Gujarati husband.
She has to make a decision: her family and culture or surfing.
Teerajeh Timothy, who co-wrote the movie said that Deep End displays the efforts of how a young woman chooses to pursue her dreams and yet not lose her cultural identity.
“This is extremely prevalent in today’s South Africa, when the past overpowers the present and obscures the future,” said Teerajeh.
The movie is also available on Showmax.
The opening day of the festival will feature a special screening of the award-winning South African film ‘Uncovered’, directed by Zuko Nodada.
The programme will also feature Palace of Bones (written and directed by Claire Angelique), Zulu Return by KZN filmmaker Gugulethu, Nicole Schafer’s Buddha In Africa, Robin Burke’s Spookie Kom Huis Toe, and Cape Town filmmaker Uma Martinez’s independent short production Forest Drive.
Besides the plethora of films, aspiring filmmakers and participants can look forward to engaging and gaining skills from amongst others award-winning South African actor Menzi Ngubane (Kwakhala Nyonini, Generations, Isibaya), international star Simon Kook who continues to mesmerise the global film industry with his action films, Peter Pham from Vietnam, Patrick Garcia from Act Films and Gavin Potter (film music scorer).
“I am very excited by the support the festival continues to receive from its partners, particularly the National Film and Video Foundation and Ugu South Coast Tourism,” said Senzo Zindela, founder and executive director of the Ugu Film Festival.
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