Well, of
recent, several articles have been published about the highly
anticipated feature film titled “Bala Bala Sese” and I guess some of you
have been waiting for my take about the movie, wondering about where it
came from, and a lot more, anyway keep calm because I have got it all
in here for you… as my usual culture, let’s turn back the hands of time…
Official Bala Bala Sese Poster
Despite the fact that “Bala Bala Ssese” Movie has been highly
anticipated in 2015, it’s older than how you could predict, its journey
began about 3 (three) years ago in late 2012 when its Principal
Photography began. It’s Production (Filming) phase being in late 2012
clearly and obviously tells its journey of preproduction began in early
or mid2012. This film was directed and produced by Lukyamuzi Bashir
alongside Usama
Mukwaya who wrote its screenplay.
Lukyamuz i Bashir on Bala Bala Sese
Lukyamuzi Bashir, the C.E.O of the known Badi Musik or Badi World
(former Badi Films) a production company best known for producing music
videos embarked on a journey of chasing his dream of being a filmmaker.
After making and winning several music video awards, he realized he had a
dream that wasn’t achieved and that was making a film. “Ever since I
was a child, I loved watching TV and always wondered how people are put
inside that box, but I said to myself that one day I will put people in
there myself” He stated. Mr. Lukyamuzi Bashir adds by saying that, in
his life, he has always had stories to tell but lacked the talent of
writing, basically writing stories (which many of us know as script or
screenplay writing), and had fear of how he could really produce a film
with the little he knew about film production, but in this case he had
to look for a good trusted script writer in order to start his dream of
making a film, and this luck dawned upon Mr. Usama Mukwaya, a Ugandan
filmmaker well known for producing short films. This is where the
journey of making the Bala Bala Sese movie began.
Director ans Producer of Bala Bala Sese –
Lukyamuzi Bashir
“I based this story on someone I know, it’s actually my late sister
who was staying in the village, she got infected by AIDs , and passed on
in great pain, so when I looked at all the stories I had to tell in my
mind, I realized it was better for that time, because I wanted world to
know about that story and probably pick a leaf from it” Lukyamuzi Bashir
said to the press. He pitched the whole story to Usama Mukwaya who
liked it and agreed to work on it, the story and script development
section began where they did endless corrections, misunderstandings came
up but later solved until they had the script to their best effort as a
team.
Writer and Producer of Bala Bala Sese- Usama Mukwaya
“I realized I had to write a script about AIDs, but people have seen
and heard several movies about the same issue, so with writing Bala Bala
Sese, I had to find a better silent angel on how to tackle the message
in a different perspective, to make it more engaging for the audience, I
realized that blending it with a natural African love story would do
better” Usama Mukwaya explained.
With having this awesome story being worked on, other sections had to
be handled, and that was getting the cast and crew people to get this
story move to another step which was the production (filming) phase.
Lover birds, John and Maggie on Ssese Islands
“Bala Bala Sese is based on an incredible story of John’s (boyfriend)
battle for love through perseverance. John is madly in love with Maggie
and both are willing to take their love forward. Facing abuses and
harassments by malicious Maggie’s father. John being helped by his young
brother Alex is determined to take in all but to retain the love of his
life especially when he finds out that he has a contender village
tycoon who is also lining up for Maggie”
The story and the local feel of Bala Bala Sese, obviously required a
unique but natural village setting kind of life, and probably this led
the team to opt for locations found in an area called “Ssese Islands”
from where it makes its title and It being an authentic Ugandan Story
called for the use of “Luganda Language” the mainly used language in the
central region of Uganda. Bala Bala Sese could probably mean “The Road
to Sese” in English.
This film features the locally considered as one of the hottest
couples on the Uganda Showbiz Scene, that’s none other than Micheal
Kasaija and Natasha Sinayobye who are lovers in real life. These are the
original founders of the locally known Obsessions dance group. The two
play the troubled lovers John and Maggie roles in the Bala Bala Sese
movie.
“During the casting, at first, we wanted Hellen Lukoma to do the role
of Maggie together with Micheal Kasaija but she couldn’t, so, I looked
around and realized that Natasha Sinayobye could still suit the role, so
we decided to give it to her instead” Lukyamuzi Bashir explained.
Natasha Sinayobye playing Maggie
“Well it was quite thrilling, but interesting, because in this movie
Me and Micheal got to do things we never did before, like that kidd-ish
village kind of love, it was actually a great experience though
challenging, I wasn’t so good with Luganda, and that girl Maggie, was
totally different from the kind of person I am, but the director did his
best to help me pull it off to its best” Natasha Sinayobye said to the
press.
By late 2012, the cast and crew team were ready to head to the
production phase of this movie, and the cast was filled with awesome
actors and actresses like Raymond Rushabiro, Fiona Birungi, Ismael
Ssesanga, Jabal Dungu, Allen Musumba, Ashraf Ssemwogerere and many more
plus their what I called Amazing D.O.P Alex Ireeta together with the
known makeup artist Shakirah Kibirige among others. The cast and crew
camped on Ssese Islands for several days, shooting the scenes day and
night where applicable.
Alex Ireeta The D.O.P of Bala Bala Sese Movie
Lukyamuzi Bashir says that he (I usually like using “they” though)
invested about 45 Ugandan Million Shillings in producing this movie.
Bala Bala Sese was shot in bits, where during the first bit, 15 Million
Ugandan Shillings was invested, then more parts were shot in 2013, and
the wrap was in 2014, yeah it was that serious!
Usama Mukwaya On set for Bala Bala Sese Movie shoot
I have been seeing various articles online, let me say across the
media talking about the official soundtrack of this movie, yeah am
talking about the amazing “Wuuyo” song by A Pass, but this is what Mr.
Lukyamuzi Bashir had to say about the song…
“I have worked with A Pass ever since he started music, am not his
manager but we have worked together for a long time, and with this movie
being in the studio whilst its post-production phase, I realized he
could probably be of help because I didn’t want to just use any music in
the movie, so I asked him to make a love song based on the movie, I
showed him a couple of scenes from the movie, from which he got the
inspiration, and later he made the “Wuuyo” song, made its video and used
some of the clips from the movie to be part of the music video which
came out successfully”
 |
| UgTIMES |
The Sound track album for Bala Bala Sses was composed by Nessim
Mukuza with the official theme song Wuuyo recorded by A Pass and Nessim
again of Badi Musik. The song became the singer’s most successful single
to date. The official video of the song premiered on march 20, 2015 at
Club Guvnor and features clips of the movie.
In other words, Bala Bala Sese is a film Directed by Lukyamuzi Bashir
and Written by Usama Mukwaya whose story is based on an incredible
story being narrated by Ashraf Ssemwogerere about a boyfriend’s battle
for love through perseverance. In the outskirts of Sese Island, John
(Micheal Kasaija) is madly in love with Maggie (Natasha Sinayobye) and
both are willing to take their love forward. Facing abuses and
harassments by malicious Maggie’s father Kasirivu (Raymond Rushabiro),
John, helped by his young brother Alex (Ssesanga Ismael) is determined
to take in all but to retain the love of his life especially when he
finds out that he has a contender village tycoon (Jabal Dungu) who is
also lining up for Maggie.
I believe I have shown you the simple brief story about the Journey
of making Bala Bala Sese movie, aha so now I think we should go to its
premiere, because I think we need to review it here as well.
So from 2012 to 2015, Badi World alongside all its cast and crew
people felt as more contented about what they had, in this case, they
decided to have the long awaited movie presented to the audience, this
called for organizing for its Premiere, the usual online and offline
buzz for this movie began, having several articles written about it
across various platforms. With the release of its trailer, which I
happened to watch first time at the National Theatre of Uganda during
the Film Club Uganda Screening sessions, I was practically blown away by
the local natural setting in the film, it being a village kind of life
movie that I didn’t expect made me not wish to miss its premiere,
luckily enough I abruptly received an invitation card to attend the
premiere, which made me feel good, yeah of course it feels good to know
that you are recognized you know, well before I forget, a week before
the premiere, a press screening was organized, where I was invited as
well to be part of the press personnel among other few fellow filmmakers
to watch this movie for the first time before its general premiere, and
whatever I saw from it is what am going to give in the review, more so
the interviews from the few cast and crew people which I have been
narrating to you from the beginning, aha so yeah the buzz kept going on
until the premiere day which was on Friday 3
rd July 2015 at the locally known Theatre Labonita. A new revolution of Ugandan films here.Lets keep the watch
Complied By Samuel Savior
