WHILE SABC3’s Isidingo recently celebrated its 15-year milestone, Ashish Gangapersad can be proud of sharing four years with them.
But his actual screen time is half that as his character was initially brought in to support Priya’s pregnancy storyline, so his appearances were rather intermittent.
He recalls with a smile, as his character has since 2011 become a permanent character, “They informed me that the character had a limited lifespan. He came in to support Priya (as her cousin), who was pregnant at the time and dealing with a lot. Then he as going to head back to Durban after a brief comeback. That for me was scary. I was new to the industry and the confidence level took a dive. I questioned bringing the character to life and whether the audiences would like him, especially among the Indians. But they kept calling Prada back and his fan base grew immensely.
“Now he has evolved. He has his own personality and has definitely come into his own. The journey has been good and exciting and emotional of late,” he adds.
Other than Prada the IT guru, so to speak, making many friends, he also found himself in relationships with Dennis and Len Cooper.
Expanding on Prada’s personality, Gangapersad says, “People have been exposed to his kindness and his sense of humour. Also, his sexuality never came into question. I have never received any hate mail or criticism. It makes me proud that not just the Indian audience but the nation have grown so much and aren’t as close-minded. We have definitely crossed religious, racial and sexual-orientation barriers.”
So what does he make of this “arranged marriage” storyline?
“We have come a long way in terms of Indian culture – it happens a lot less these days. In the storyline, we created a situation where the arranged marriage would be accepted if there was a valid reason. That is the inheritance. But the bigger picture here is that the family doesn’t accept he is gay. So they are forcing him to be something he is not,” he explains.
But his brother Jayesh needs the money for an expensive fertility treatment in Switzerland. And his mother Sunita – well, she just wants to save face.
Gangapersad adds, “Prada is on this emotional roller-coaster. He is willing to give up his happiness for his brother and mother. That is a huge ask for anyone. You would think a mother would do anything for her child, but this is the other way around.”
As for marrying Devina (played by Kajal Bagwandeen), who, without his knowledge, has secrets of her own, he adds, “He doesn’t necessarily want to spend the rest of his life with this woman. Right now, he is looking for the silver lining in that dark cloud.”
Full of praise for his new co-stars, Gangapersad says he has been getting a lot of mail about how his storyline has inspired viewers to come out to their family and reveals that the objective with this storyline is to pursue that issue of denial and acceptance, but in a way that is credible and poignant.
Much to the viewers’ amusement, Prada has been downplaying the campness and become more butch – but subtly so.
The actor, who bagged YOU Spectacular’s Favourite Newcomer and Most Popular Male Celeb honours, says every episode in the coming days is going to be a cliff-hanger.
He laughs, “I can tell you that there is a big bombshell when his sexuality is revealed to Devina and her father. There is also going to be backstabbing, secrets coming out and blackmail coming up… and it is so much bigger than one person’s sexual orientation.”
In the meantime, though, Gangapersad has also bagged a role in an internation film based on a well-known Bengal novel and is working on his own movie – the working title is Unborn Different.
“It has evolved since the first draft. I have been working on it from 2008. I have producer James Carroll. Before we get into finding a director, we are working on the biggest mountain, which is the financing aspect. It is a movie that talks to a unified South Africa,” he reveals.
In marrying his various talents, Gangapersad is well on his way to leaving bigger footprints in the industry. Good on him!
• Isidingo is on SABC3 on weekdays at 7.30pm.