I developed my love for history at a young age. Historical novels that take you back to other periods are my real love.
For that reason, I love Emile Zola. His works are documentations of a period. History is the most honest of the social sciences and humanities among the academic disciplines — there is less room for bullshit.
One historical novel I particularly love is 1421: The Year China Discovered the World by Gavin Menzies, about the discovery of conventional wisdom. I also read many classics, such as Honoré de Balzac’s The Wild Ass’s Skin. It is one of my favourite books because of the creative way in which Balzac treats the philosophical underpinnings. Even today the societal descriptions are still universal. It hooks into a project I just finished on the city, The Battle for Johannesburg.
Another book I always talk about is Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang. It is about three generations in China. I learned more about China from this relatively medium-sized novel than from all the academic texts on China I read.
When I was growing up my love was soul, reggae and RnB. A defining band of my youth was the Clash, from the anti-establishment period of the mid-1970s. Bob Marley connected me to my own political consciousness. I’ve developed a love for a particular kind of music, nurtured by Peter Gabriel 25 years ago — fusion or world music. I listen to Ali Khan, Ali Farka Touré, Sheila Chandra, Afro-Latin-American fusion and devotional Sufi music. I also enjoy live music. The Bassline is probably one of my most regular haunts.
I tend to listen to a lot of music when I am at the stage of making a film and I am trying to find tracks that could act as a reference. When I need to listen to myself, my own emotions; when I am tired and fatigued; when I am going to take a bath with a glass of wine — this is when I listen to music.
I love the city. I like the Melville street-café scene. A nice street café that opened in town is Darkie Café on Anderson Street in the CBD. It is such an urban space and it has an ambience that is peaceful, yet busy. That combination does something for me — I think best when there is stuff going on around me. I look out the window for 10 minutes. This is what I love about the city. Even if you don’t take advantage of it and just read a book, it is still there.
My musical taste coincides with my favourite cuisine: I love Asian fusion. I love cooking and experimenting. One of my latest purchases is Curry by Vivek Singh. For many years I have been cooking without recipes, but since I picked up his book I discovered spices I did not even know existed.
I always loved movies and watched a lot of TV when I was growing up. In terms of documentary, Harlan Country and Rosie the Riveter from the 1970s were great influences. My all-time favourite film is Spartacus. I also love Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Godfather. I just fell into film.
A good film can be just as good as a good book. Films allow you to read into many things. They have become part of our popular culture and memory. They speak to society without the limitations of a story. I still love the cinema and go regularly. Unfortunately, I don’t go to the theatre much any more because, too often, I am disappointed. Tonight I am going to the Old Mutual Theatre on the Square in Sandton to see Original Skin with Phillippa Yaa de Villiers.
My little secret, culturally, is that I love Survivor. I think, despite reality TV playing to the lowest parts of us, I hate to admit, it is thoroughly entertaining.
Rehad Desai’s documentary, The Battle for Johannesburg, shows at the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, which runs in Cape Town at the Nu Metro V&A Waterfront Complex and at the Labia on Orange until August 29. It runs in Johannesburg at the Bioscope on Fox Street from August 18 to 29.
Desai spoke to Christina Gossman