Masala spiced Mau Mau film production gets underway

A local film production company has embarked on a grueling journey to retrace the steps of the Mau Mau freedom fighters struggle and their collaborative interaction with the Indian dukawallahs.

The more than Kshs 25 million feature film is the debut production of Wide Angle Visions, a local film production company and will feature Kenyan actors Tony Njuguna and Mehul Savani alongside Bollywood film star of American descent Tom Alter.

Titled Muigwithania, the film is set on the original Mau Mau strategic locations in Kabete on the outskirts of Nairobi.
Speaking when he confirmed the commencement of the movie shoot, Writer and Director Amit Tyagi said the film is being shot on high definition video format and is geared at telling the positive story of the Mau Mau struggle.

“Muigwithania is a story that sets out to correct popular misconceptions about the Mau Mau by helping the audiences understand the freedom struggle cause better and for the first time brings out the role of the Indian community,” Tyagi said.

And added: “the film is set on a typical village scene in Central Province and features the inevitable Asian shopkeeper of the time and their role in facilitating the struggle.”

Inline with the production schedule, Muigwithania will be ready for release ahead of Madaraka day festivities and will provide a platform for local corporate to channel their support for the production effort through a number of opportunities including product placements.

With a masala twist, Muigwithania, is set to make history as the first feature film about Asian migrants to Kenya and their social interaction frameworks that inevitably fuelled and sustained the freedom struggle.

The film industry in Kenya has been identified as a key growth industry with great potential to spur economic growth and help in the realization of vision 2030 through tourist attraction, investment and employment creation. Currently the film industry is generating over Ksh.3 billion annually.

However, when performing optimally the film industry can generate over Ksh.40 billion and create more than 250,000 jobs annually.