''Bhai's Cafe'' is a South African musical comedy-drama film shot in the style of a
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
film directed by Maynard Kraak from a screenplay by Darron Meyer and Aaron Naidoo. It premiered at the 2019
Durban International Film Festival
The Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) is an annual film festival that takes place in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. Founded in 1979 by Teddy Sarkin and Ros Sarkin, it is the oldest and largest film festival in Africa an ...
. It had a brief theatrical release in February 2020 before moving to
DStv
Digital Satellite Television, commonly abbreviated to DStv, is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based in Randburg, South Africa. Launched on 6 October 1995, the service provides multiple audio, ...
Box Office when
cinemas closed the following month.
Premise
The film is set at a local café in
Wynberg, Cape Town
Wynberg () is a southern suburb of the City of Cape Town in Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated between Plumstead, Cape Town, Plumstead and Kenilworth, Cape Town, Kenilworth, and is a main transport hub for the Southern Suburbs, Cape Town, ...
run by Bhai that comes under threat from a property developer, whose son catches the eye of his daughter.
Cast
* Mehboob Bawa as Bhai
* Suraya Rose Santos as Rashmi
*
Siv Ngesi
Sivuyile Ngesi (born 18 October 1985) is a South African actor, comedian, presenter, and producer.
Early life
Ngesi was born to a Xhosa family of four children in Gugulethu in the east of Cape Town. He spent his early childhood there before movin ...
as Patrick
*
Rehane Abrahams as Mary
* Thabo Bopape as Lionel
* Farouk Valley-Omar as Chaganbhai
*
Jessica Sutton
Jessica Laura Sutton (born June 2, 1993) is a South African actress. She is best known as Tally Craven from the Freeform series Motherland: Fort Salem and Mia in The Kissing Booth.''
Early life and education
Sutton was born in Cape Town, Sout ...
as Stephanie
*
Masali Baduza as Thandi
* Dillon Windvogel as Shamiel
* Elodie Venece as Veena
* Stavros Cassapis as Kabir
Production
The story was the brainchild of Razia Rawoot and Mehboob Bawa, with the setting inspired by Bawa's memories of the corner shop in
Claremont his family owned when he was growing up in Cape Town. Originally intended to be a sitcom, director Maynard Kraak introduced them to screenwriters Darron Meyer and Aaron Naidoo to help them turn it into a film. It was filmed on location in Cape Town.
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, 7205100
Films set in Cape Town
South African Indian films
Works about gentrification
English-language South African films
2010s English-language films