Isidingo Misses An Opportunity

Isidingo’s woes have not been much of a secret in this industry for a while now. As many of you will very much know the show has not being doing well with ratings and the recent fire that put the production on hold, forcing writers to scramble for new story plot, did not do much to alleviate the problem. Now the show is trying to revive itself and right off the bat they making some mistakes. 

I love Pearl Thusi and though I am not that familiar with her acting work, I can assume she is proficient enough but bringing her to Isidingo was the first major mistake the producers have made. Let’s face it, the whole thing just seemed like a PR thing and it put her at a disadvantage from the word go. 

The latest gay storyline is uninspired, redundant and just leaves a lot to be desired in terms of creativity and just pure lack of insight. I would have expected this sort of laziness from that other soapie not Isidingo. 

Ashish Gangapersad plays Prada

Seriously, the best gay storyline writers at Isidingo could come up with was Prada’s father leaving he and his brother a million rand on condition that they both are married when they have to inherit the money. I am bored even typing this … anyway we are then fed mundane scenes of Prada trying to get his mother to accept him. Yawn Yawn Yawn!

I lamented this before in the article about After9 returning for a second season on Sabc1; GAY PEOPLE HAVE LIVES OUTSIDE THE CLOSET!! Enough already. 

Isidingo really missed an opportunity here to dive into uncharted territories with their gay lead character. All they needed was some little creativity which their writers clearly lack. 

South African television has never explored a relationship between gay Indian males. How about that? It is certainly more interesting than redundant lines like a mother saying her son is not a man just because he is gay. 

The writers could have gotten Prada a boyfriend and explore the dynamic between Indian culture and sustaining a gay relationship. Hell, even just seeing an Indian gay couple on the show would have been better than this yawn-fest they offering now. 

After a long period of Prada just being a window dressing character on the show, this was a chance for the writers to give the character some dimensions and interesting plot. Surely there are tons of stories the researchers could have found from just having lunch with Indian gay guys to get ideas for the development of this character. 

I am so disappointed at the pure laziness of the writers at Isidingo. If they are planning to revive the show to its former glory, they better start employing some fresh ideas and minds. 

Seriously Isidingo, closet-gay man-has-to-marry-a -woman-for-inheritance… Seriously?!  

A lot of us still consider Isidingo the show that showcases real talent. For us the show is the remaining beacon of hope that acting prowess and good storytelling still takes precedence over hype in SA. We expect excellence from the show. 

The show will never rival the big guns but at least it enjoys the loyalty of viewers like myself who expect nothing but the best even without the numbers. This sort of laziness however,  is truly disappointing.


Catch Isidingo on SABC3 at 19h30 weekdays