TV personality and Actress, Mbali Mlotshwa's career recently took an interesting turn when she landed a role in the SABC 2 Afrikaans soap opera, "7de Laan", as Nandi Khumalo. She made her debut appearance on the show last Friday (February 19) as a fashion designer who moves to Hillside to design a men’s fashion range with Felicity. The 28-year-old model is best known for her role as Precious on SABC 1 dramas "Tshisa", "Soul City", "Inkhaba" and Mzansi Magic's "Rockville" (hence I say her career took an 'interesting' turn, because we are used to seeing her take on roles in more ethnic productions and it should be amusing to see her mingle with a different audience market).
Nandi comes from a prominent family – her father is a professor in economics at a local university and her mother is a magazine editor. She values her parents’ opinions and has always been close to them. She is outgoing, confident, feisty, not afraid to speak her mind and has a wicked sense of humour. She is also a
keen cyclist and quite competitive in everything she does. Sifiso starts dating Nandi and the two develop an easy, comfortable relationship. She is caught totally unaware when she realises that she is attracted to Bernard, and vice versa. This was not supposed to happen – and knowing that her father will not approve, Nandi at first resists. But love conquers all!
When Nandi walked into Felicity's boutique, she looked every bit like the high fashion designer that she is set out to be. Nothing like most of the characters in the 'Laan', she has a more classic, trendy look. She also looks quite young (blame it on the baby face that is Mbali) and definitely brings a fresh touch into the show. However, even though Nandi is obviously supposed to be this confident and independent woman who reeks command, Mbali's soft-toned voice humbles her down to a more sweet and shy personality. It also doesn't help that on her first episode, she wasn't given much dialogue but had to smile and nod most of the time (especially in her scene with Felicity at the coffee shop). I would have loved to see her say more words and bring out a much stronger personality. "7de Laan" is filled with different bold characters that come together like this perfect diverse community of eclectic individuals. I am afraid that the only thing that might make Nandi stand out right now is her classic, urban look in the more contemporary environment that "7de Laan" is, while her personality gets swallowed up.
However, her character profile and storyline sounds interesting and I hope that as time progresses (and as she is given more dialogue), we will see her character blossom and gain momentum. Mbali is an amazing actress and "Nandi" should be an easy character for her to carry through.
Watch "7de Laan" on SABC 2 every weekday at 6:30pm
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