Cape Town actor Irshaad Ally, who plays Rhafiek Samsodien in the popular soapie Suidooster, has begged fans not to blame him for fictional Fiekie’s k@k maniere.
Since the death of Rhafiek’s dad AB Samsodien (played by Cedwyn Joel) early in May, the Samsodien family has been in turmoil and an unreasonable Rhafiek is blaming his half-sister Bianca (Simone Biscombe) for his dad’s death because of her relationship with Dirk (Evan Hengst).
Then, Rhafiek’s gatvol twin brother Rhiyaaz (Anton Jephta), who also inherited shares in AB’s pharmacy, decided to give them to Bianca, as there was an unsigned will in which AB said he wanted Bianca to have shares in the besigheid.
This created an even deeper rift between klipkop Rhafiek and a determined Bianca, and it was open war between the siblings, which caused their poor grieving mother Mymoena (Jill Levenberg) to have a heart attack last week.
Irshaad has now taken to Instagram to ask fans to not confuse his screen character from real life.
“Why is everybody attacking me about Rhafiek? When you see me on the street, you are seeing Irshaad, not Rhafiek,” he told IOL Entertainment.
“I only perform what they give me, I do not write the story. I actually had my reservations about this story, but I didn’t complain much.
“If you want to get your frustrations out, do it with the writers. Calm down, it’s not real, it’s just a story, in fact leave the writers and everyone else, watch the story, throw your TV with a sloffie (slipper).”
Irshaad said his fans are taking things too far these days.
“Sometimes when I’m in the mall, older ladies come up to me upset. One lady told me, ‘I don’t like you’, and I asked if she doesn’t like me or Rhafiek, she said: ‘It’s you, I don’t like you’.
“At one point, a lady hit me on my shoulder because she was angry at my character and all I can say is, ‘eina’, because it’s elderly people.
“I think this storyline is bad for me because those aunties are my target market, they love me and I love them back, and now they don’t like me.
“It’s all fine and I try to handle it and although they make me nervous, I think I’m ready for that klap,” he joked.
Suidooster publicist Wilmer Muller said it’s clear their viewers truly relate to the characters.
“A big part of the DNA of any good soap is that viewers start to see characters as people who are part of their daily lives, as such TV shows become part of many people’s everyday routine.”
dailyvoice@inl.co.za