By: Mark Allan Karanja
You might not know this about this young lady, but Joyce Maina, the stunning beauty that plays TINDI in the hit Swahili Soap, Sumu La Penzi, is a newbie in the industry, with her current role being her first ever screen role. Talk about hitting the ground running. It is quite interesting how her getting the role came about. She had been cast for a supporting role in JANE AND ABEL, yet another SPIELWORKS MEDIA production, when she was handpicked for the role of Tindi because she suited the part more. And the rest, as they say, is history.
This young lady is a socialite in her own right, with a keen sense of fashion and always at the right place at the right time, far from her character – Tindi – a naïve country girl who has her moral compass thrown for a loop when she comes to the city. Tindi is Mariam’s cousin as played by Serah Ndanu, who comes to Nairobi in search of a better life. Much like all impressionable young people from the country who come to Nairobi, she has an idealistic dream about how things should happen. She sets a course for her future, but it is interrupted when she discovers that things do not always happen as planned.
She is shocked, to say the least, at her cousin’s lifestyle. A woman who is embarked on using men for what they are worth and leaving them high and dry. Her religious back ground violently clashes with this lifestyle but she is forced to readjust herself. She meets Eva (Avril Nyambura) and Ama (Neomi Ng’ang’a), who are her cousin’s best friends and they too add in her confusion.
“She is perplexed by these women’s relationships to men”, Joyce says of her character. “Mariam and her numerous men, Eva and Martin and Ama and the lounge”. Though Tindi might come off as just another meddlesome relative from the countryside, she desperately tries to form a relationship with Mariam, “And this causes her to reevaluate her beliefs and weigh her options as far as Mariam and her new life are concerned”, Joyce adds.
She forms a bond with Eva who is unquestionably, more nurturing than the other ladies. Tindi is truly an endearing character to watch. It is most likely that you shall form an attachment to her. Catch Joyce Maina on Sumu La Penzi on Africa Magic Swahili, Channel 158 .