“It was a once in a lifetime event” The director of the movie Sarafina shares how phenomenal making the movie was

The director of The Movie Sarafina shares how phenomenal making the movie was 39 years ago.” It was a once-in-a-lifetime event.”

Thirty years ago, a story about a young township girl caught in the middle of a political uprising on June 16 1976, took the world of South African cinema by storm.

Sarafina managed to capture the youth’s hurt and pain all those years ago.

The movie is a dramatic musical that features some of the most iconic actors of our time, including Leleti Khumalo, Somizi and American actor Whoopi Goldberg.

Created by Mbongeni Ngema, Sarafina made history in the world and with legendary superstars like Miriam Makeba, it had no choice.

The director of the film, Darrell Roodt, called his experience directing the film a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Darrell recently sat down with Drum Magazine to take us down memory lane, and he says he remembers it like it was yesterday.
He says he first saw the play while it was going out in Los Angeles, and they were terrific.

He shared some interesting facts about the movie and the choreography we have all come to love.
Darrell revealed that they managed to get the services of Michael Peters, the same guy who choreographed the video for the song Thriller by none other than the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

That video, as we all know, went on to be one of the most-watched videos around the world. If you don’t remember, it is the video where Michael Jackson turns into a ghost and then, joined by other spirits, gives us the best dance routine ever to grace the music industry.

Sarafina got the treatment from the dude who choreographed that video.
Roodt says that the cast didn’t need much direction for the movie.

He says at one point, and he had to get on top of a police car to try and stop them from dancing because they couldn’t hear him when he called cut. He also recalls that the cast had been abroad with the play for years and was not very impressed with the food they were catered for in Mzansi.

“They had been abroad for long, and their standards were high.”

He says he ended up giving them a good talking to.

Darrell remembers that many of the young kids from that set were unknown at that time, except for Somizi Mhlongo. He says Mhlongo was as fiery then as he is now. He recalls that he would use SomG as his mouth board because he was the ringleader of the whole lot; if he didn’t agree to something, then all would follow suit.

He mentioned that he is pleased to see that some became big names in the entertainment industry, but he is sad to see how some turned out.

Some of the big names that were in the movie are Dumisani Dlamini, who played Crocodile and now Dlakadla in the hit series The Wife, The late singer Wendy Mseleku, Sindi Dlathu who is now the bad Lindiwe in the River and Robert Whitehead also known as Barker Heinz on Isidingo to name a few.

Darrell was only 30 years of age when he directed the film and says that running Leleti Khumalo was a joy.

“I would tell her to look at her toes then lift her head and cry; she did it beautifully; Leleti is an amazing actress.”

Leleti worked with Darrell in a movie called Yesterday after Sarafina. That movie was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005.

He says Sarafina was impactful and life-changing.

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