Just a month shy of the end of Mzansi’s most recognisable Afrikaans soapie 7de Laan, viewers were treated to the wedding of the century.
The cast and crew have done everything in their power to make the iconic show’s final moments as memorable as can be, and what better way to achieve that than with 7de Laan’s first-ever gay wedding.
Fan-favourite couple Zakhele ‘Zee’ Guliwe (played by Ray Neo Buso) and Dr Sudesh Reddy (played by Kyle Clark) officially tied the knot during the episode of 23 November 2023 and TRUELOVE got to know all about the couple’s journey before the show’s finale on 26 December.
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Having been on the show since the beginning of 2022 as 7de Laan’s first openly gay character, Ray shares with us just how much the audience was rooting for Zee to find love.
A year later, in comes Sudesh, the charming and mysterious doctor here to sweep Zee off his feet.
“For a very long time, Zee was on the show and he didn't have a partner and he had a crush on one of the straight guys there who ended up becoming his best friend, who's Ace and the audience really wanted someone for Zee and, they really were rooting for him to find love.
“So, because Zee is so young, when he met Dr Reddy, he didn't know what to start. How to flirt, this was his first boyfriend – well, they weren’t dating by then. He didn’t know how to approach telling someone that you like them,” Ray explains.
An interesting dynamic between the two character’s love story is that the series showcases their relationship outside of the lens of just propping up a homosexual relationship or pandering to social stereotypes of the comedic, outlandish or hypersexual gay man.
From dealing with financial insecurities with Sudesh as a doctor dating a waiter to familial issues, the ups and downs of Zee and Sudesh’s relationship even as two queer men of colour reflect the issues that many heteronormative couples face.
Adding to this, Kyle shares, “I think the thing that I enjoyed the most about the relationship is the ideology of hitting social, let's say, social storylines that are not really accepted. So, there’s a lot of things that I think that was portrayed through Zee and Sudesh of actual issues that queer couples go through.
“We went through a breakup. We went through past relationships coming into play. We went through trying to make it through Zee's best friend’s – you know, the idea of the best friend trying to accept you. We went through parent issues. A pure example of Sudesh's parents trying to accept Zee as his partner. And then we also went to environmental issues and financial issues that, you know, there are a lot of parents out there that want their children to be with someone that is of a certain financial status.”
Something that Kyle and Ray both emphasise about the portrayal of their storyline is brought to life so authentically by the 7de Laan writers.
“Leading up to the wedding … Sudesh and Zee take a trip to Durban to go and sort of like break the news and go on this trip and we both don't come back the happiest because the feedback wasn't the greatest of what we expected. And these are all the issues that I think a homosexual couple continuously faces,” Kyle continues.
“So, it was really incredible for me to see the transition of our relationship and how many issues we were actually putting on the line and, you know, as Ray said, Zee and Sudesh, the most incredible thing about the show and about 7de Laan is that what they did was for the first time, I think, in TV history, especially – well, not in TV history – but let's just say SABC and in its entirety in the community, the first time a gay couple was showcased on screen in the most normal and equal way to every single other couple in the world, which was absolutely amazing for me.”
Both Ray and Kyle have been candid about the kinds of personal and lived experiences they’ve had to draw from to bring to life their characters, whether it’s their immediate family accepting them as queer or the personal traumas they’ve had to face.
Ray spells this out by saying that “In terms of relationships as well, I think we sat down and went, okay, this is what we want to convey to the audience, and this is what we want to show them. So, we sat down, and we went, I want you to be more dominant and you should be more submissive.
“And for me, I remember the one time I tapped into my actual emotions, and I had to cry after Sudesh and Zee broke up. And I tapped into my real-life experience. I couldn't stop crying after the said cut. And I think we're different as actors. So, I never try to tap into when it's an emotional scene.
“I never try to tap into my real emotion. So, I'll use my real experiences to portray what's happening. But tapping into an emotional aspect of my feelings, I always try to try away from that because I am opening up a wound that I probably maybe haven't dealt with or I haven't fully healed from and I’m scarring myself even more by doing that instead of actually trying to act which is what we do we act it,” Ray reveals.
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With the series finale just shy of three weeks away, Ray and Kyle have grown close enough to each other and the rest of the cast over their time on the show.
Kyle explains what he hopes viewers – be it parents or youngsters – take away from their onscreen relationship and the supporting characters accepting it is how normal they are treated as queer men.
“I think the biggest thing that stands out for me, because there's so many things that you can take out of it, you know. Because we have parents watching, we have kids watching. So, from a parent's standpoint is how normal the rest of the cast treats us and how okay it is to be queer.
“It’s so important for the story to be told because you will see how the rest of the cast like the Visagies, Aunty Aggie who becomes my aunt, the Petersons, the Welmans; they are so accepting of our relationship and I think that that message alone will showcase to the parents that if they ever had a child that was queer, that it’s okay.”
