Sayari: A Love Letter to Authentic Kenyan Stories

When was the last time you watched a Kenyan romcom that actually felt Kenyan? Not just in setting and actors, but in its soul? Director Omar Hamza‘s Sayari finally fills this void for me with a charming, unpretentious film that proves local romcoms can thrive without mimicking Western formulas.

The genesis of the film’s title reveals Hamza’s wonderfully quirky approach to filmmaking. During a post-screening Q&A, Hamza admitted to simply opening a Swahili dictionary and using the first word he stumbled upon – Sayari – as his title. Yet somehow, this random choice ends up perfectly tying up to the film’s central plot.

Set in the beautiful landscape of Tigoni in Kiambu County, Sayari introduces us to Shiru (played by Caroline Muhugu), an Airbnb manager whose life straddles responsibility and stagnation.

Following her mother’s death, Shiru has put her ambitions on hold to care for her father, who abandoned his career and turned to alcohol in his grief. Her daily existence centers around managing the Airbnb property while fabricating stories about being in Mombasa to shield her friends from her reality.

This is where Jamal (played by Lucarelli Onyang’o), a young Nairobi entrepreneur fleeing an arranged marriage set for Valentine’s Day (irony fully intended), comes in. Seeking solitude to clear his head, he books Shiru’s Airbnb, unwittingly setting the stage for what becomes the film’s central relationship.

Unlike so many romantic leads who feel transplanted from American romcoms, Jamal embodies relatable tensions between familial expectation and personal desire that many young Kenyans face.

Sayari is no meet-cute story. It’s a grounded love story that doesn’t lean on grandiose gestures. Instead, the chemistry between Shiru and Jamal develops organically through conversations that sound like actual Kenyans talking, not the stilted dialogue that often plagues local productions attempting to sound “international.”

Within the first few minutes, you’ll notice that the film’s greatest strength lies in its authenticity. When Shiru struggles with the deeply African mandate to prioritize parental care above personal fulfillment, her dilemma resonates with painful familiarity.

In similar fashion, Jamal’s resistance to his father’s pragmatic approach to marriage speaks to the generational shift in how our generation views relationships.

I applaud Hamza and producer June Wairegi for maximizing their limited budget (the film was primarily funded through personal savings). By making the most out of Tigoni’s picturesque landscapes, they manage to create a film that appears more expensive than it actually was.

However, while the cinematography generally serves the story well, some scenes suffer from lighting issues that occasionally make it difficult to clearly make out all the elements in a scene.

Besides cinematography, sound design and musical score were other areas where budget constraints were evident. Wairegi spoke to NPC Geek, where she revealed the challenges of music licensing in Kenya, which forced the production to use non-local songs rather than the Kenyan tracks originally selected.

Having watched the screener with the Kenyan tracks, I can confidently say this diminished some of the film’s atmospheric potential.

Despite these few shortcomings, Sayari succeeds on the strength of its script and character work. Hamza somehow manages to ambitiously juggle multiple plot points while maintaining focus on Shiru’s journey. Like the film’s title, Shiru exerts a gravitational pull on the supporting characters, who naturally orbit her story without feeling underdeveloped or neglected.

What ultimately makes Sayari worth watching is its dedication to portraying Kenyans as they actually are – funny, complex, conflicted, and deeply relatable. The characters speak like people you’d meet in daily life, facing problems that feel authentic rather than manufactured for dramatic effect. By the end of the film, there’s a satisfying resolution to each character’s arc.

It’s time Kenyan films stopped taking a backseat to international productions, and for anyone looking for a soft landing, Sayari is a good place to start. It’s not just a good Kenyan romcom – it’s a good romcom, period, and one that hopefully kickstarts a new direction for local cinema.

Sayari is currently showing at Anga Cinemas in Diamond Plaza II and Prestige Cinemas in Prestige Plaza.