(Kogie Naidoo as Amsugi in a very amusing scene!)Created by husband and wife team, Kumaran and Fiona Naidu, Broken Promises started off as an idea for a television series in 2002, but was never picked up for broadcast. The duo then decided to develop the story into a movie which was filmed and completed in 2003.
Producing the movie on a shoestring budget, director Kumaran Naidu struggled to acquire a distributor as many were sceptical, being the first of its kind in Africa. Kumaran then decided to ‘give’ it to a family friend, who was a local distributor of Bollywood films.
The movie was released on DVD and VHS in December 2005 and became an instant hit. Within two months, more than 50,000 DVD’s and VHS copies of the movie were sold. The actors became overnight superstars and Broken Promises became the Christmas present of choice!
Broken Promises 3, which has just opened at Ster-Kinekor at Gateway, is set to be a choice Christmas present again
It follows the successful course from the 2006 sequel and the follow-up mini–series of 12 episodes per year which was picked up by DSTV Africa Magic. This was a huge step in the international market as it gave tremendous exposure of the franchise to the whole of Africa. It brought in fans from all over Africa and, wanting more, a second season was commissioned in 2008.
With fans demanding another Broken Promises Kumaran decided to go back to feature films and he and his wife devised a story that would be fun, witty, and extremely enjoyable. In Broken Promises 3, his first cinema HD movie, Kumaran wanted to touch on issues such as relationships among teenagers, divorce, suicide, and aged love and marriage.
This is a tough brief to follow but there are some charming and sensitive scenes among the fun and mildly chaotic nonsense. As Amsugi, Kogie Naidoo puts in a good performance, allowing viewers to see her full range of acting skills from gentle sensitivity to robust humour or raging temper. Neel Pillay appears as her lovelorn son while Rani Pillay appears in her first acting role as Amsugi’s sister.
Other major roles are played by Maeshni Naicker (Saras) who is well-known for her comedy talent; Roshni Moodley (Kamla) as the conservative neighbour who proves that you are never too old to have fun, and Sathie Moodley as the bemused marriage counsellor who has to listen to Amsugi’s long tale of woe against her proposed daughter-in-law.
Shooting took place in many locations in and around KZN, from malls and parks, to fields in Pietermaritzburg. There were many extras used in outside scenes and in the major wedding sequence. For the soundtrack, Kumaran decided to use some of the well-known local artists, such as De’monique, LX Seth, and Mr Ramesh Hassan, the latter performing a song he specially wrote for the movie.
Broken Promises 3 can be seen exclusively at select Ster-Kinekor Theatres countrywide.
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