Durban - AN EXCLUSIVE premiere for the long-awaited film 3 Days To Go is set to take place in Durban tonight, ahead of the movie’s cinema opening on January 25.
Written and directed by Bianca Issac, the film stars Leeanda Reddy, Lillette Dubey, Jailoshini Naidoo, Kajal Bagwandeen, Rahul Brijnath, Jonathan Boynton-Lee and Zakeeya Patel among other A-list stars.
According to the plot, when their father passes away, four grown-up siblings gather with their collection of husbands, wives, children and grandchildren.
Together this crazy family needs to survive each other for three days under one roof - before they spread their father’s ashes and part ways again.
As the siblings re-examine their shared history and their tattered relationships, they learn how miserable they have become in their lives and how they can no longer blame someone else for their decisions.
Speaking to POST, Patel said there were two major aspects of the script that had attracted her to it, and it was partly why she believed the film was headed for success.
“The thing that struck me about the script is actually the fact that all the leads and all the storylines were female-driven. And it was a predominantly female cast, which is a rare thing to find. Also, these characters are three-dimensional in that they are not goody two shoes. They have real flaws and real things to love about them.”
Patel plays Candice, a single mother of two, who have different fathers.
“My acting coach once said one of the most amazing things about being an actor, apart from being able to emotionally portray and to physically transform into a character, is that it’s our job to tell someone else’s story.
“This has definitely happened to some young woman somewhere. She has fallen in love, had her heart broken, possibly been left with nothing and it has happened again and again.
“I get to very gracefully hold someone’s truth in my hands and hopefully move people. If you dig deeper, the reason Candice behaves the way she does is because she is hurting. She is trying to cover up with the partying and the drugs. She’s running away from serious feelings.”
Among the characters are: Janet Isaac (Reddy), who, after losing her husband in a tragic accident, moves home with her parents and tries to juggle taking care of her folks, her teenage daughter and trying to find love again; and Melissa Isaac (Naidoo) who married the man of her dreams and is now stuck in an abusive relationship. Their only daughter, Candice (Patel) grew up in this madness. And then there’s Riki Isaac (Brijnath), the only son and apple of his mother’s eye whose financial success led to excessive drinking, a divorce, gambling, debt and an ongoing hustle.
“I think Bianca is an incredible storyteller. A lot of this is her family’s story. I think it’s quite brave that she has put herself out there like that, and that she is able to weave the story into so much entertainment and bring to life so many characters in such a short space of time, shows how talented she is,” Patel said.
“You don’t have that many hours to get the story across, so you have to be quite a skilled storyteller to be able to do so and Bianca has done that. And this is not an ‘Indian’ story. This is a universal story.
“Show me one normal or perfect family? No matter how glossy and shiny families are on the outside, no family is perfect. It’s a great journey for all families to experience.
“The characters are not stereotyped; they are real, their stories are real. It’s about people, having people issues and getting over them. It’s not a stereotype and I’m blown away by that.”