Merendran Reddy: from 'City Ses’la' to 'Lucky Fish'

SINCE his big break in the sitcom City Ses’la at age 23, Merendran Reddy has emerged as a versatile figure, weaving his passion for acting, writing, and producing into a successful career that spans over two decades. 

As he prepares for the release of his latest project, Lucky Fish, Reddy, now 43, reflects on his journey, which was inspired after he watched Jim Carey as a private detective in the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. 

"Well, for some reason after watching Ace Ventura, I became pretty obsessed with Jim Carrey. At the time, my sister was at the National School of the Arts, specialising in visual art. My mother saw my constant re-enacting of scenes from Ace Ventura, then The Mask, and decided I should audition to get into the school as well, to specialise in drama. 

"I wanted to go to Parktown Boys or King Edward VII School with all my friends, but I dare not argue with my mother. I got in but from grades 8 to 10 (Standard 6 to 8). I wasn’t that interested in the drama stuff. It was only in Grade 11 (Standard 9) when I got into the main school play, Noises Off, that the acting thing bit me. 

"In matric I was selected as one of the top eight drama pupils to perform in front of the entire school and judges for a chance to get a full bursary to AFDA. I didn’t get it, but I decided it was still something I needed to do."

Without waiting on others, Reddy, who ended up studying at AFDA Joburg, then created his own big break.

"Luke Rous, who is the other producer on Lucky Fish, and I have been friends since AFDA. We met in 2000 and by 2003, when we were graduating, we had done a number of two-man shows for theatre. In 2004, now out of AFDA, we did the theatre circuit at the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, the Grahamstown and Potchefstroom festivals, and theatres in Pretoria and Wits. We decided that our destiny was actually in film and TV. 

"To this end, we wrote the pilot for a sitcom and then shot it in December of 2004. After partnering up with Endemol, a larger production company, our pilot was rejected by everyone multiple times. But around June 2005, SABC 1 got a hold of us and said they wanted to make the show.

"We had three months to write 13 episodes, a month to shoot and then we had to be on-air by November of that year. That show was City Ses’la. I was 23, a head writer, executive producer and producer on the show, as well as a lead actor, none of which I had done before."

He played the role of Gary Moodley, a paranoid, loveable fool.

"It aired 92 episodes between 2005 and 2011. City Ses’la was incredibly well received by audiences and became a benchmark for sitcoms in our country and is still referenced today."

Reddy said from acting, producing and writing, the latter, which was the most difficult of the three, was where his heart lay. He served as a writer for movies and TV series including Cop & a Half, Neelan and Kevin, and Black Tax. Reddy acted in the mini series The Indian Detective alongside Russell Peters and Anupam Kher; Invictus starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon; and Madiba with Laurence Fishburne and Orlando Jones. In the latter, Reddy played veteran stalwart Ahmed Kathrada. He also produced Black Tax and High Rollers. 

Despite his long resume, Reddy admits he is not one drawn to the spotlight.

"I prefer to quietly go about my business in my little writing hole, until I’m ready to present something to the public. I’m also not that interested in being in the public eye. It just seems to be the by-product of being an actor, so I try not to push that."

Lucky Fish, which he serves as the executive producer, writer and lead actor, will open the Durban International Film Festival today and the premiere in the city follows on Friday. The Joburg premiere will be on July 22 and the Cape Town premiere on July 23. These are a run-up to the countrywide cinema release on July 25. 

"My writing partner, Craig Gardner, came to me with the bones of the idea. We started writing the script in 2017 and again, we were rejected multiple times. In 2023, the script was picked up by Amazon Prime. We shot the movie in August and September of 2024."

In Lucky Fish Reddy plays Sanjay Pillay, a pushy, failing businessman, who is obsessed with perception and does not care much for substance. He runs a sardine-canning factory and decides to sponsor a beauty contest to increase sales. It is a contest that nobody in their right mind would enter, let alone win the title of Miss Pillay Pilchards.

"And therein will lay his journey and lesson."

Reddy said he knew tinned fish was meaningful to the Indian community, so he leaned into that aspect, while wanting to make a bigger statement about beauty and how society wrongfully viewed it. 

The movie stars Jack Devnarain and Kaseran Pillay, who he has worked with multiple times in his career, as well as Mayuri Naidu, who starred in High Rollers, which he produced. 

Asked what he was most proud about in his 20-plus year career, he said: "There are a few things I am proud of. City Ses’la definitely. I then broke the world record for the fastest film ever made in 2013. It was called Shotgun Garfunkel. Between 2019 and 2024, I wrote and produced three seasons of Black Tax for BET, Showmax and E-TV, which I am incredibly proud of. And after watching Lucky Fish with a few test audiences, I feel like this is something to be proud of as well."

Reddy said he had a few projects lined-up but "none that I should talk about until there’s something real on the table". 

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