The series, now the most watched on DStv’s ShowMax, tell the story of an innocent, rural teenage girl (Sanyu) forced to leave her family and her pursuit for education to be a housemaid for the complex, wealthy, urban Kirunda family.
Here, she falls for her employer’s young son, Oscar, which makes her life even harder. Sanyu stars Tracy Kababito, Allan Katongole, Abby Mukiibi, Mushema Housen, Eleanor Nabwiso, Kuddzu Isaac, Sharon O Nalukenge, Faridah Nabagereka, Marion Asilo, Blessing Naturinda, Kyeyune Shalom, and Timothy Lwanga, among others, who take the viewers on a journey of love, emotions and drama.
No TV series has captivated audiences like Sanyu has, since The Hostel on NTV back in the day. When I arrive at the location, the crew and cast are preparing to shoot an episode for the upcoming season. Actress Eleanor Nabwiso is having her make-up done in a corner at the entrance of the house.
Matthew Nabwiso, Eleanor’s husband who is also the series’ director, welcomes us and offers to take us on a tour around the mansion and show us where different scenes are shot.
The foyer has several portraits of the members of the Kirunda family and other fine art pieces hanging on the walls as one climbs the stairs onto the first floor to the living room.
Here, we find actors Abby Mukiibi who acts as Mr Kirunda, and Mushema Housen who acts as Patrick, the first son of the family, who are preparing to shoot a scene.
Through the dining room, there is a kitchen and a balcony that overlooks the swimming pool, where one of the first scenes of the series was shot, and where Sanyu met Oscar for the first time.
The first floor of the mansion also comprises the master bedroom, the props room where the items needed on set are kept, as well as the make-up room.
The second floor has another living room used as the guesthouse for the series, a multi-purpose room where parties and bar scenes are shot, but it also serves as a dormitory for the men in the crew in case shooting ends in the wee hours of the night.
Right across is Melissa’s room; the troublesome youngest daughter of the family, where we find cameras rolling and lights on as the actors prepare to swing into action and shoot some scenes for Melissa.
The co-director is heard telling everyone to maintain silence as she directs her actors. The floor also has Patrick and his wife Lucy’s bedroom, where they have most of their fights; Oscar’s bedroom, to which he usually smuggles Sanyu, and Mr Kirunda’s home office are also here.
Back to the ground floor, there are two small rooms facing outside, used as the servants’ quarters for Sanyu, Kalungi and Nakakande; one of these rooms doubles as the editing studio where we find three editors doing their job.
The Sanyu series also often show the Batte family in a village in Kayunga where Sanyu comes from. However, these scenes are not shot in Kayunga; they are shot just behind the Mutungo mansion, where, according to Nabwiso, they have to redesign the small compound in the backyard to have a village setting and also the rooms inside to have the village look.
However, due to the very urban environment, sometimes they have to go to areas like Busaabala in order to get the actual village setting. The compound in Mutungo has beautiful green gardens where most of the romantic scenes are shot from, especially those between Sanyu and Oscar.
Outdoor parties of the Kirunda family are shot beside the conical- shaped swimming pool. Finding this location to shoot the series from was no easy task for Nabwiso. He says he moved through almost all the houses in Kampala and Entebbe but could not find the perfect location and since time to begin the work was running out, they had to start by filming scenes that did not require a house.
“By the time we got this location, we had to start filming immediately even before it was renovated, because MultiChoice was expecting us to start delivering some episodes; so, we started filming from the garage,” Nabwiso says.
Almost 70 per cent of the scenes in the series are shot from this location, which Nabwiso says has saved them a lot of production costs and time even though they still have to go out and shoot some scenes from specified locations.
We also witnessed a behind-the- scenes shooting of one of the scenes that took place outside the house, where Patrick (Mushema Housen) was throwing his wife Lucy (Eleanor Nabwiso) out of the house and it took several takes for the actors to nail it.
The director, Nabwiso keeps intervening when the actors forget some lines, or get something wrong. During the shooting of the final scene, a boom mic is put up, all cameras get rolling and the director takes his seat behind a monitor as he watches his actors get into action.
WHAT THE ACTORS SAY
Veteran actor Abby Mukiibi Nkaaga needs no introduction when it comes to Uganda’s film industry. He has starred in The Last King of Scotland, Sometimes in April, The Silent Army among others, most of which have been action feature films.
He says starring in a drama series with hundreds of episodes has definitely come with its own challenges.
“It is a challenge doing series like this where we have to shoot more than 100 episodes unlike when you do a feature film where you can even shoot for two or three months and you are done, but here we can even shoot for four years which is quite a long time. But what matters is commitment. Personally, I never have time, I just create time. I already have a busy schedule but I plan out my days well because this is a post I have committed myself to and willing to give it my all,” Mukiibi said.
He added that the series have been able to break into a very difficult film market because it has got a local flavour which everyone can easily relate to because most African families have gone through or heard about the things Sanyu has gone through which makes the whole series so integral.
Mushema, on the other hand, is no stranger to acting in drama series. He has acted in series such as Balikoowa in the City, The Hostel, Second Chance, and Power of Legacy, among others. He says that starring in Sanyu has been an amazing experience because of the overwhelmingly good feedback they are getting from the viewers and good reviews from critics.
“Every character demands differently, which means me taking up the character of Patrick in these series is a whole new experience and each director has their own style of directing and so, I still have a lot to learn. The second season is coming up and it has a lot of great moments,” he said.
TOUGH COVID-19 PERIOD
Filming the series began in July last year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, under Nabwiso Productions.
“Of course they were still very many restrictions at the time especially when it came to movements and gatherings, but it was good news for us because it presented an opportunity for us to get out of houses and go out and put out our creativity,” Nabwiso said.
He reminisced the time they were shooting some bar scenes in a Kiwatule bar and they got arrested by police, because they thought they were operating a bar yet bars had been closed.
“Someone tipped the police off that there was a bar operating illegally; so, they showed up, grabbed me and our cameras and threw me on a pick-up truck and took me away. Even though I had a police letter from the IGP allowing me to film from the place, they did not want to look at it; so, I ended up at a police post in Naalya, but I explained to them and they released us,” he said.
Nabwiso also adds that curfew time has also been a big challenge to their filming since there are some scenes which need to be shot during the night and many times this might go on into the wee hours of the morning, which means that most crew members have to sleep on location. According to Joan Semanda, the communications manager of MultiChoice Uganda, they commissioned the production of Sanyu because of its script which tells the story of families and what happens in our day-to-day homes.
“When COVID-19 hit and a lot of people were stuck at home, we saw an opportunity of giving them more content to keep them engaged and that is why we made a call out to different filmmakers to submit their ideas and among those selected was Sanyu by Nabwiso,” she said.
The shooting of season one, which was 100 episodes, has ended and currently the shooting of season two is underway, with a projected 260 episodes. They hope to go as far as nine seasons, which is likely to take the next five to six years.
Nabwiso assures viewers that the content and quality of the series will not go down, because they have a carefully-selected creative team comprising some of the best in the industry.
“We know the expectations of Ugandans in terms of good-quality content because for a long time now we have been hearing Ugandans say how they no longer watch TV, but now people rush back to their homes so as to catch Sanyu. We have given people a reason to watch TV again; so, we cannot give them a reason to stop watching,” Nabwiso said.
The series premiered in February this year, airing from Monday to Friday at 8pm, with the first season coming to an end. Season two is expected to air in June.
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