Nollywood actress Genevieve Nnaji was recently at the receiving end of attacks from the movie industry following her remarks about the unprofessional-ism bedeviling it. She may have since retracted her comments, but did she say anything entirely new?
Nollywood, the nation’s movie industry may have come a long way, but the quality of her movies remains questionable. As dawn breaks, the industry plunges further into darkness. Take her earliest film, living in Bondage, that film, agreed was understandably a first timer, but you struggle to find films today even close to that flick. Today, if Living in Bondage can still stand shoulder tall with new movies, then it obviously leaves much to be desired.
If the development in Nigeria leaves you dry and scrapping for safety, Nollywood seems to falter in providing an alternative to at least, ameliorate it. From stereotyped roles, costume, acting, directing, editing to even scripting, the sad story goes.
More heart reeking is the title of some Nollywood movies. Disparaging and uninspiring titles that leave you reeling with disappointment and wondering if it was scripted by a kindergarten or even the ridiculous parts that these movies are divided into, sometimes as much as six parts with different clueless titles.
That said, even the actors themselves leave you wondering where their heart lies. Take for instance; the thespian Olu Jacobs, despite his experience and talent, he is willingly restricted to royalty roles amidst substandard productions.
Amazingly, he sits comfortably on this, and seems to care little or nothing about professionalism, which is the line Genevieve apparently seems to be drawing.
Genevieve may have since gone past the shoddy production and unprofessionalism that Nollywood is riddled with. But like some of her colleagues, she will do well to further lift the bar. This does not necessarily mean going into producing herself. After all, not everyone is gifted with the garb of producing.