Actress dies a day after bagging Kalasha award

Nancy Nyambura, a popular comedienne who died shortly after winning a Kalasha Award. PHOTO/JOHN KIMWERE

What you need to know:

  • Hosted by Jeff Koinange and Patricia Amira at the National Museum, the Kalasha awards were a glitzy affair as the best in the field from actors to producers to scriptwriters attended the black tie event.
  • The film Strength of a Woman won the highest number of awards – four. These were for Best Feature Film, Best Lead Actress, Best Original Score and Best Lighting. House of Lungula, which had 10 nominations, won Best Scriptwriter in an Original Screenplay.

The television fraternity has suffered a major loss after the death of actress Nancy Nyambura Saturday hours after she won the Best Performance in a Comedy prize at the fifth Kalasha Film and Television Awards on Friday.

Nancy (inset) was popularly known as “Jastorina” in reference to the similarly-named series on Citizen television in which she played a funny domestic house help.

Her colleagues, who collected the award on her behalf, informed the audience that she was ill and bedridden at the time.

Nancy had been battling meningitis for some time, but her condition seemed to improve and she was discharged from hospital last Wednesday.

She leaves a nine-year-old-son.

Very charming and likeable for the roles that she played, Nancy fast became a fan favourite.

She first starred in the court comedy Mashtaka on Citizen television. She impressed audiences with her delivery of a naïve, talkative and argumentative character whenever taken to court.
After a few appearances in the show, she landed the lead role as the title character in Jastorina.

She grew her fan base in this programme as she played the character of a domestic help from the countryside working for a middle class family in a big city and trying to adapt to the ways of city life.

It was her chemistry with her employer on the show, Mama Kevo, that made her such a darling.

 Before the news of Nancy’s death broke yesterday, the fifth edition of the Kalasha Film and Television Awards had ended on Friday night.

Hosted by Jeff Koinange and Patricia Amira at the National Museum, the Kalasha awards were a glitzy affair as the best in the field from actors to producers to scriptwriters attended the black tie event.

Strength of a Woman

More than 713 entries were submitted, approximately three times that of last year.

The film Strength of a Woman won the highest number of awards – four. These were for Best Feature Film, Best Lead Actress, Best Original Score and Best Lighting. House of Lungula, which had 10 nominations, won Best Scriptwriter in an Original Screenplay.

Zuku’s Tales from the Bush Larder took home the award for Best TV Show. Simiyu Samurai 2 won three awards: Best Short Film, Best Special Effects and Best Editing.

Rose Njoroge and Telly Savalas took home Best Lead Actress and Best Lead Actor for their performances in Strength of a Woman and The Marshall of Finland, respectively. Gerald Langiri was rewarded for his performance in the show Stay with the Best Supporting Actor in a TV Drama award.

Beba Beba’s George Mbuto was named Best Lead Actor in a TV Drama. Shamba Shape Up won two awards for Best TV Documentary and Best Host in a TV show, the latter for presenters Naomi Kamau and Tony Njuguna. The awards for Best Lead Actress and Supporting Lead Actress went to Amalie Chopetta and Mkamze Mwatela, respectively.

The, lauded Kalasha for its improvement since its inception five years ago.