KALUSHI OUT NEXT WEEK

IN a week Kalushi: The Solomon Mahlangu Story will finally hit local cinemas after nine years in the making. 

Written and directed by Mandla Dube and produced by Walter Ayres, the film that won the Rapid Lion Award last year and was screened at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), the film will host it's first official screening and premire this weekend in Pretoria. 

But it hasn’t been an easy road for the filmmakers who’s production cost more than R20-million, as they begged and borrowed including asking the South African Air Force to assist with helicopter scenes and asking the Department of Correctional Services for permission to film at the original gallows — “which would have been expensive for us to reconstruct”.

“I put my property up for sale because the funding was coming in dribs and drabs,” said Dube. Luckily, funding came through before the house was sold. “The money we had wasn’t enough and at times we pulled in favours.”

It tells a story of struggle stalwart Solomon Mahlangu also known as Kalushi (played by Thabo Rametsi) who is brutally beaten by the police and goes into exile following the 1976 Soweto uprisings to join the liberation movement.

The film tells the remarkable story of Solomon ‘Kalushi’ Mahlangu (played by Thabo Rametsi), a young man, largely forgotten by history, who became the voice of so many when nobody was listening to the country’s youth.  He is brutally beaten by the police and goes into exile following the 1976 Soweto uprisings to join the liberation movement and on his return from military training in Angola, en route to their mission, his friend and comrade, Mondy (played by Thabo Malema), loses control and shoots two innocent people on Goch Street in Johannesburg. Mondy is severely beaten and tortured; Kalushi is forced to stand trial under the common purpose doctrine.The state seeks the highest punishment from the court, DEATH by HANGING. Kalushi has his back against the wall and uses the courtroom as a final battlefield. He was sentenced to death at the age of 23, despite being innocent of the accusations against him, he refused to be silenced.

Other cast members include Louw Venter (from Kite and Semi-Soet), Marcel van Heerden (Mandela: Long walk To Freedom), Welile Nzuza (Vehicle 19), Pearl Thusi (Quantico) and Jafta Mamabolo (Jerusalema and Otelo Burning). Acclaimed poet and playwright, Dr Gcina Mhlophe plays the role of Martha Mahlangu.

"It is interesting to nore that the campaign organisers from Fees Must Fall called me to ask if they can rename Wits Freat Hall after Solomon Mahlangu and I introduced them to the family.

"He is certainly someone who offers hope to young people the world over and his story demonstrates how the strength  of the human spirit can triumph, even under the most difficult and oppresive circumstances. In a way, I made this film with my students in mind," said Dube.

Kalushi is distributed by Times Media Films and is set to hit local screens on March 10.