Driving to the Design Quarter in Fourways, I think back to my memories of TV star Hlomla Dandala. Sure, I’d seen him on the box in programmes such as Isidingo and Jacob’s Cross, but my memories of him took me back to a few years before he had set foot on a professional set. Way back to 1993 when Hlomla started his first year as a student of Wits University’s School of Dramatic Art, where I also was a student and hoping to be a star.

We knew he was going to be famous. He had everything going for him – smouldering good looks in that Denzel Washington leading-man kind of way, a deep intriguing voice, a body that made most guys envious while the rest drooled, a presence on stage that made you sit up and take notice – and talent that seemed to tingle out of him. At a time when we were all hoping to be discovered as we tread the boards, we knew Hlomla was going to lead the way.

In a strange turn of fate, here I was sitting opposite him at Primi Piatti, chatting about his stellar acting and directing career. I congratulate him on his success so far. He flashes that famous grin and responds: “You know, the industry has been good to me. I’m fortunate that I haven’t become a starving actor.”

It’s pretty obvious that the industry’s been good to him. Hlomla has been a regular face on South Africa’s TV screens since graduating. His first big break came when he was cast as Derek Nyathi, the mine manager in the popular SABC 3 soapie Isidingo. Soon he was a household name, with a stalker and people he had never met claiming to be carrying his baby in the headlines of the tabloids. That’s when you know you’ve made it.

Since then he’s had leading roles in TV series such as Interrogation Room, Tsha Tsha, Gaz’lam, Zero Tolerance, Jozi-H and a mini-series called Land of Thirst. His most recent claim to fame, though, is his role as Jacob Makhubu in Jacob’s Cross, a story about a powerful oil magnate and his quest to build an empire.

I was surprised to hear his response when asked his career highlight. I expected one of his more memorable and meaty roles to be high up on the list. But it was his role as presenter of the reality dating show All You Need is Love that took top honours for him so far. “It branded me as Hlomla as opposed to Derek Nyathi,” he explains, “and I got to see South Africa in a way I hadn’t seen it before.”

While working on Isidingo, Hlomla tried his hand at directing the soapie. A good move, because this led to a lot more work for him. He’s one of the guys directing e.tv’s drama Scandal at the moment and has directed programmes such as Generations and Rhythm City as well as a film called Swap, which premiered recently and starred well-known actors Clint Brink, Tumisho Masha and Dawn Matthews.

While Swap went straight to DVD, mostly because of financial constraints, the movie has meant Hlomla can add “independent filmmaker” to the many notches on his belt. This is a label he finds really exciting, and being in Joburg has indeed stimulated his career, it seems.

In pursuit of Jollywood
“Joburg is buzzing when it comes to theatre and film. There are a whole lot of young filmmakers out there, doing it for themselves,” he says. In fact, he’s quick to berate me for not knowing about First Wednesdays – a gathering of industry peeps (as he calls them) on every first Wednesday of the month at the Atlas Studios in Milpark. Here, directors premiere their work and allow feedback from other passionate film directors, actors and producers. There’s also the hope that the odd distributor attends and their film gets picked up and becomes the next Tsotsi. Or even better, District 9.

So what does he think of District 9? Will it be the boost the South African film industry needs internationally to get us recognised? Sorry to say, he’s not as enthusiastic about the movie as I thought he’d be. Besides his concern about the way Nigerians are portrayed, he thinks that hanging our hopes on one movie, as clever and well-crafted as it is, is not the way forward.

“The answer to our film industry is found in nurturing our own independent filmmakers – the kind of guys who just pick up a camera and film,” he advises. “That’s how you feed the industry. You can’t give them cake all the time.” He’s adamant about this. I feel the South African industry seems to be modelling itself on the Australian movie industry – producing films that are accessible to an international market and allow a cross-over of actors and filmmakers. This has been very successful for the Ozzies, and getting someone like Peter Jackson behind the SA industry can only be good for us.

He’s quick to disagree with me and thinks that the Australian model is not the way to go. “Look at the three top film industries – Hollywood [USA], Bollywood [India] and Nollywood [Nigeria],” he says. “All they have focussed on is entertaining their people. You can’t tell the difference between an Australian film and one made in Hollywood.”

I remind him about our very successful industry in Cape Town, where a number of international pictures and commercials are filmed each year, resulting in a really skilled industry that is receiving more and more respect as a viable location and filmmaking destination. Once again, he’s in a different camp to me.

“We have a seasonal film-catering industry in Cape Town,” he concedes. But a warning follows: “The biggest problem is we’ve learnt skills that we can’t afford in our own production of films. We have to follow international trends and budgets, which is why we’re struggling to find our own unique voice and style.”

I push him to see if he has a solution. And rather than being just critical of the industry, he has a very practical view of the way it could move forward. “You see, filmmakers create the voice by taking a culture and making it bite-sized. We’ve consumed too much bite-sized American culture and not enough South African and African culture. My money is on the guys who aren’t following the trend.”

Hlomla is a passionate man, and that has clearly driven his success. It’s difficult not to be excited about the industry with people like him actively involved. And with most actors and directors just wanting to give up on the SABC, given its current woes, it’s good to hear someone of Hlomla’s clout not losing heart. In fact, he believes the current crisis will force performers, directors and producers to become more entrepreneurial and competitive. “We have to gamble on our own skill,” he says. “If we don’t, how can we expect anyone else to? South Africans don’t operate with a competitive mindset. They regard monopoly as success. We have to encourage competition.”

Of family and having a braai
Competition seems to run in the family. Son of a preacher man, Hlomla’s father, Mvume Dandala, was once the bishop heading up the Methodist Church of South Africa and received attention recently as COPE’s presidential candidate in the country’s recent elections. I ask if he has any political aspirations, to follow in his dad’s footsteps. With that charming smile and loud laugh, he tells me that he went into politics before his father had. “I was at a convention and got into a conversation with someone who turned out to be a reporter, and from there I couldn’t back down.” Seems the Dandalas are not afraid of speaking their minds and putting their money where their (rather dazzling) mouths are when trying to make a difference in the country.

But it’s not all work for Hlomla. He’s a devoted family man with four children (three daughters and a son) and married to Candy Litchfield, another familiar face on our local TV screens. I ask him about his favourite things to do in the city, and he struggles to get past Fourways.

Seems it’s true about the Joburgers who stay in the north – they eat, sleep and play in this ’burb. Only work will get them out. So it’s no surprise to hear him waxing lyrically about the Design Quarter and his favourite restaurant there, Kitchen Bar. He’s also a fan of The Butcher’s Grill in Cedar Square. Some of the best food is to be found here, he says. Clearly a man who likes his meat.

He also can be found tucking into ribs at Nambitha’s in Vilakazi Street in Soweto. “Whenever I feel like reaffirming my blackness, that’s where I go,” he jokes. And although he admits to not being a club guy, for a good night out he recommends the naked nights on a Thursday at Inc., a popular and exclusive club in Braamfontein.

But more often than not, you’ll find him at home firing up the braai for family and friends.

“I’ve learnt a lot about a lot over burnt meat,” he says with that famous grin on his face. But it’s Joburg that really gets him talking. “I love Joburg! Chances are, if you’re sitting alone in a restaurant, someone will chat to you. It’s a really friendly city. I’ve made a lot of friends serendipitously.

“You start a conversation, exchange numbers, and next thing we’re burning meat,” he says.

Hlomla is as I remember him – warm, engaging and full of opinions and wisdom, and incredibly passionate about his life and career. It’s been good to meet with him and see that I’m not jealous of his success. Well, not as jealous.