“In a house where blood has soured, the only thing more dangerous than the son who leaves is the son who stays to take his place.”
A new Kikuyu-language drama exploring family rivalry, legacy and betrayal is set to open next month.
‘Thakame Nduru’, directed by Duncan Murunyu and Mugo Macharia, will premiere on April 4 at Scila Gardens Sportsview Hotel.
The 75-minute film stars Murunyu alongside Macharia, Stella Wangeci and Lucy Njoroge in a story that examines the fractures that can form within a powerful family when tradition collides with personal ambition.
Speaking about the importance of making the film, Directors Murunyu and Macharia said it was a story that resonated with them.
“‘Thakame Nduru’ is the film we had to make. Not because the story is dramatic, though it is. Not because the themes are timely, though they are. But because both of us have stood in that corridor between who our families needed us to be and who we were quietly becoming,” they said.
At the centre of the narrative is GK, played by Murunyu, the disciplined firstborn son of a wealthy Kenyan patriarch. GK shocks his family when he turns away from inheriting his father’s multi-million shilling empire to chart his own path.
The decision is seen as a grave cultural transgression, leaving his father, Mr Kariuki, struggling to come to terms with the void left by the heir apparent.
Explaining this tradition, the directors said: “There is a Kikuyu proverb that has followed us our entire lives: Kihii gikuru na ithe ni undu umwe, meaning the eldest son and his father are one and the same. We were both born first. We know what that sentence weighs.”
Adding that they made the film for every firstborn who would happen to watch the film.
“We made this film as an act of recognition — for every firstborn who has swallowed an inheritance they never asked for, and every sibling who has lived in the shadow of someone else’s refusal.”
According to the film’s synopsis, the vacuum that GK leaves in the family dynamic quickly attracts attention from his younger brother Njenga, played by Macharia. Having spent much of his life feeling overshadowed, Njenga seizes the opportunity to prove himself as the loyal successor and win his father’s approval. However, his deep-seated insecurities and longing for recognition push the sibling rivalry into dangerous territory.
“The conflict escalates when Njenga sets his sights on Lydia, GK’s fiancée, portrayed by Wangeci. Drawn by the promise of the comfortable life GK is walking away from, Lydia becomes a symbol of the brothers’ escalating feud, turning their rivalry into a deeply personal battle that threatens to destroy the family from within,” the synopsis reads in part.
Filmed during the 2020 pandemic, in Kikuyu, Ruaraka and Ruiru, it has taken 6 years for the story to get a premiere date.
Speaking about what they wanted to achieve with the film, the two directors said ‘Thakame Nduru’ employs an intimate, homely realism that places viewers in the middle of a simmering domestic conflict.
“The intimacy on screen is not accidental. We deliberately chose a visual language that keeps the audience inside the pressure, tight frames, quiet rooms, and the texture of familiar spaces, turning strange. Because that is how emotional violence works,” they said.
With its upcoming premiere in Kasarani, which will also feature live Mugithi music, the filmmakers hope the project will add to the growing catalogue of vernacular Kenyan cinema while offering audiences a gripping story rooted in culture, family and consequence.
“Our vision is a touring experience: ‘Thakame Nduru’ paired with live Mugithi music, bringing the film into communities across Nairobi, through the Mt. Kenya region, and eventually to Kenyan diaspora audiences in the UK and USA, where the hunger for authentic home stories is real and growing.
“If this model works, and we believe it will, it becomes a blueprint that others can replicate and scale. A new way for African filmmakers to own their distribution, their audiences, and their revenue.”
