You are a versatile actor; we’ve seen you assume roles from various cultures. How challenging can that be?
I have done a lot of roles either as an Igbo prince or Benin prince. As an actor if you are given a script and you intend to deliver, what is expected of you is to carry out an extensive research to be sure of what you are getting into and also, get someone from that tribe to put you through.
You could even get some words that you can slip in while you are acting so you can convince the person watching you are from that part and that is what I normally do. When I came into Nollywood, a lot of the actors, the producers and directors were very friendly, they really embraced me and that made things easier for me because they always put me through and that is why you see me interpret those roles like that.
What was the reaction of your Kannywood fans when you decided to expand your coast to Nollywoood?
Initially when I started out, there were complaints here and there because people didn’t know what they will really see before the movies are released but along the line, the movies started coming and there were some negative comments especially when it comes to kissing and bedroom scenes because of the diverse cultures and traditions that we have.
The first thing I take into consideration is that I am a Muslim and Islamic actions are being judged according to intentions, this is a profession, we are only acting, it is not like it is the real thing we do it is a make believe thing so anybody who thinks we are going extra mile in the kissing or bedroom scenes should understand that there are people there and certainly nothing will happen.
When it comes to choice of roles, I am very sensitive because I take some things into consideration. I don’t go to the extreme but then at the same time I don’t just play every role that is offered to me, I try to control that and what I try to make my fans understand is that for an actor, you are supposed to act in whatever language that you can speak or you can communicate in.
If you are given a role to play in whatever language you should branch out and do that because this is what shows that you are a versatile actor. For most of my fans they were able to understand these things and from my own part I was able to control some things so that they don’t go out of hand.
There is a lot going on in the industry right now, there seem to be a shift in the quality of productions compared to when we first started, but there is still much work to be done. How can the industry be better improved?
A lot of things have to be put in place in the entire industry that includes Nollywood and Kannywood. I am talking about putting up things like good marketing structures. When these good marketing structures are put in place, I am very sure these movies will make more money than they already have and when they make more money, you won’t have to tell a film maker go and perfect your job, the person on his or her own accord would go ahead to make sure he masters his job because we have the talents.
If you take a look at when the industry started out, it was more or less a trial and error venture but with time, we now have graduates from various fields of film making in Nigeria. This means people have accepted film making and its various field as a profession and they are ready to go for it.
All we need is capital and talking about this capital, you wouldn’t say the government or an organisation must lend you money for you to do quality movie, all that is required is when you have a good marketing structure, the movies will surely turn in money and when they turn in money you will be able to perfect and make your craft better.
Are you saying the distribution framework of the Censors Board is not delivering on its mandate as it should?
Yes, indeed the censorship board did present a pattern of marketing but then if there are no structures to carry it out then it won’t be effective. For instance, you say the marketers are going to buy sales from the Censors Board, fine they pay money, you buy sales. As you are buying the sales, what guarantees are you going to give them that their jobs are not going to be pirated or if they are pirated you will stand up for them? If there is no security like that who goes for it that is the first problem.
Secondly, the movies we sell where do we go to get them from? We need to have shops or sale outlets across the country where these movies can be sold, where people can access them but if we don’t have this why will somebody go and spend their money buying sales from you and you don’t do these things for them. I think this is where issues came up and the whole thing just crashed.
At the rate at which things are going in the industry, we seem not to be able to separate marketing from piracy, wherever marketing is mentioned the next word you hear is piracy. In your assessment what do you think could be done to cut down the menace? In almost every country where movies are produced, pirates are there but there is a way to cut it down.
If we have enough cinemas where all our movies can run in, I am sure this whole piracy saga can be cut down. Before the movies go out and gets pirated or before people go to the theatre to dub, a lot of people must have watched these movies in the cinema and when they watch these movies in the cinema, the distributors get their profits, they get royalties, they pay the producers and everything is settled but when you don’t have sufficient cinemas because presently these movies run In just a few cinemas, they will be forced to be taken out of the cinema before everybody goes to watch it why, because other movies are on the pipeline waiting. When you take the movie out of the cinema before you know it you want to put it on DVD and putting it on that DVD is giving room to the pirates; that is the problem.
If there is any organisation that is interested in undertaking marketing of Nigerian movies generally, I am talking about Nollywood, Kannywood, I think what they should put in place is cinemas. For instance we have in-house cinemas there is Ozone, there is Silverbird but we need to build more structures at different places. When you talk about northern Nigeria, Kano is the only place that has just one cinema. A multiplex with about six halls is not enough for northern Nigeria because people of the north have had the cinema culture even before now so I think we need more cinemas. Not until we get more cinemas we will not be able to talk about tackling this piracy issue.
But with the issue of insecurity and people trying to avoid crowded places, the cinema culture seems to be dwindling especially in the North or don’t you think so?
Security wise everybody is conscious and everybody is careful about where to go and what to do but when we talk about multiplexes, multiplexes are mostly located in malls and these malls are highly secured, there is a very good security system there so I don’t think we have a problem going to the cinema in Nigeria. If you take a look at our cultural norms in the industry and the age-long stance of the Censors Board, there seems to be a defect. Recently, there have been some Indian Hausa translations and those films contain some unprintable scenes.
As a professional, does it in any way affect your mode of distribution?
Those Indian movies that are translated in Hausa, they are dubbed in Hausa. I wouldn’t really say they affect us directly but talking about the Kano state censorship board, there is a new executive secretary which I think is going to make things better. It is a thing of worry that your own home made movies come you don’t pass them because a lady is wearing a jean trouser but when an Indian movie is brought that is translated in Hausa and the lady wears a bikini, it passes. What were you shying away from, nakedness, nakedness is right there so why don’t you take that into consideration but when you talk they will tell you they are Indians that is their tradition.
That is not Indian tradition, tell them to do Indian tradition and bring to you, that is what I think should happen. It is really a problem when it comes to that, it is like you are not encouraging your own people, for instance people produce 100 movies and then you decide to cut it into 50 movies then the industry begins to face a problem because people go out of work, secondly when these movies are dubbed, go into the market people buy them and the rate at which they buy them affects the quantities of our own home-made movies people buy. So the question is, are you promoting your own or are you trying to demote their own?
What advice would you proffer?
Ask these people to get a permit from the owners of these jobs because I know what it takes to get the rightful ownership of a movie, sound dubbing it and releasing it. If they do the normal thing they do, you won’t get more than ten or five of such films in a year released into the market.
Nudity has become a big issue in the Nigerian film industry, even from the posters we see indecent exposure yet children watch these films. How best can this issue be addressed?
There are no quality movies where you have such things but you see, the industry is dissected in its own way. When you watch such kind of movies, look at the faces in the movies they are not the faces you want to see in movies. What I will advise the National Film and Video Censors Board to do is to really take that into consideration because take it or leave it, movies influence what the society does.
The way people dress; they look at what actors wear in movies and they say they want to copy from them so automatically even little kids will tell you I have seen this person praying in this film I want to pray so if that person makes love in that film they will tell like to make love because they want to have a taste of what that person has done. Honestly it is a thing of worry the Censors Board should do something about it.
At some point, most Nigerians especially ladies, preferred Gollywood movies to Nigerian films, would you say that is still the case?
They used to but I don’t think that it is existing presently because the advantage Gollywood movies had was that they started out the new pattern of movies, movies we make for cinema before Nigerians picked up but presently, Nigerians are into serious cinema kind of movies, for instance we have October 1, 30 Days in Atlanta, The Meeting and a host of other movies.
These are movies that are good for consumption for anybody, any home, you can take your family to the theatre to watch because they are the right kind of movies we should be making. Maybe if you go to the cinema frequently you will testify that the preference for Gollywood movies is no longer in existence; it used to be.
How do you manage scandals?
Scandals are always a part of the profession whether you are a footballer musician, athlete or an actor; it is a part of the whole thing. What you should try to do is keep your head low, let your job do the talking. Do a good job leave and the audience to decide for you, you don’t have to go into twitter or Instagram war with your colleagues to make your presence felt. That is what I will advise celebrities to do, that is what I normally adopt
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