Damola Olatunji and Bukola Awoyemi, popularly known as Arugba, Celebrate 1st Birthday of their Twins in Grand Style
+How God brought them to limelight
Popular Yoruba actor, Damola Olatunji is well known for his
lover-boy and action roles in movies. The actor has starred in over 50 movies
and is highly in demand on the Yoruba movie scene.
Born the second child in a family of six, Damola comes
from Edo Agbo in Osun state and had both his primary and secondary
education in Ile-Ife. He later proceeded to Yaba College of Technology, Lagos,
where he studied Electrical Engineering.
Unlike many others, Damola didn’t always want to become an actor but an engineer,
until when he was at Yaba College of Technology, where he had a growing desire
to engage in other activities. According to him, he thought of doing something
else, and then joined a drama group where he did some stage plays. He joined
friends who had been in the movie industry at locations and in studios.He was also inspired by his mentor, Yomi Fash-Lanso, who supported and encouraged him in acting. Damola first shot into limelight by a role played in a movie produced by Opeyemi Aiyeola titled Ojo (Rain), directed by Yomi Fash-Lanso.
‘I
Don’t Believe In Exposing My Body’
Bukky
Awoyemi started her journey into the make-believe
world in English movies, but later crossed over to the Yoruba genre when she
played the lead role in Tunde Kelani’s Arugba. The actress’ career can
be described as soaring, what with her own movie at hand. In this interview,
she talks about her challenges in producing her first job and her achievement
so far. Excerpts:
Q: Tell us
about your new movie, Igba M’ba Jo.
I thank God
Almighty for giving me the opportunity, because it has always been my dream to
tell a story of my own right from school. Actually, this was not the first that
I thought I would produce because I had one particular story that I wrote while
I was still in school. But I wrote it for the stage while in my 300 level.
As I was writing it, I was seeing it on screen; I
was not seeing it on stage. But since I was still a student I wrote it for the
stage. So when I graduated I converted it from play to screen play. I won’t say
I am a filmmaker like my boss Tunde Kelani, but I will just say I have a story
to tell in my own little way. That is what I am doing presently.
Are you
saying this new movie was written while in school?
No, this particular one I am working on currently
was written after I graduated. But the one I wrote while in school was the one
I thought I would produce first. But looking at the logistics I kept it aside.
Probably, it will be the next.
This one
you are working on, is it on a lower budget than the other one?
Well, I decided to do this first because I feel
if I want to achieve the other one, a lot of things have to be put in place
because it is traditional. I feel every story or movie has its own challenges,
this just came by and I just started writing and decided to do it first.
What about
your experience as a new producer?
It gave me a lot of experience, like being a
producer and also acting at the same time. Being an actress and a producer are
two different things. Producing and acting at the same time is the most
challenging situation anybody in the industry could find him or herself. I tell
you, you will have to concentrate on the success of the production because
sometimes you might be waiting on an actor, or one is not even going to show up.
And probably you are shooting somewhere and you
are being given problems, like you are not sure they are going to let out the
place for you to shoot. And you have to pick up your script and act again. It
is like swinging from one mood to another. Honestly speaking, if I would have
my way, if I want to produce, I don’t think I would want to act.
Why didn’t
you drop one for the other when you discovered the challenges?
It was my first time, because the story was
written by me. I saw everything and the story line was written around the
things I could do, because the character in the movie sings, and I sing. I also
did the songs and wrote them myself, to the glory of God. So I felt I could do
it; since it was written by me, it would be best delivered by me. But on
getting to the set, I saw a different ball game on location.
Sometimes I would wake up at 5am and sleep at
5am. It was as good as not sleeping at all, and I had to be awake by 8am again
and start shooting. I feel to really concentrate on production, just be a
producer. But for people who have done it severally, it is just a piece of cake
for them. But for me it was very challenging, because I wanted everything to be
perfect.
Why the
choice of Uche Nwaezeazu, GUS 6 winner, and I.D. Cabasa?
While I was writing I wanted a new face; I didn’t
want a face that was already there. I wanted people to see it from another
light and not just the normal Yoruba movie. Bringing in an Igbo guy was not
intentional. I wanted a new face and thought of a Yoruba guy. But as God would
have it, an Igbo guy came along. I was telling my friend Bola Lawal who helped
in the screen play too that the kind of guy I wanted for this script was a
tall, huge, dark-skinned guy.
And she said there is this guy that comes around
to Surulere, we could just talk to him. And I asked what he looked like and
then we went on the internet and checked him up. So I said he is tall and cute.
We contacted him and he said he had never done a Yoruba movie before. I asked
him if he could speak Yoruba and he said he could try. And he said this was
just divine connection and he did it. I tell you Uche is a great actor. As we
all know, I.D. Cabasa is a producer and he produced all the three songs I did
in the movie. We had already produced the songs before commencing the movie. So
I felt since I would need a producer in the movie, why not use a real one? That
was how he came in.
The
actress, then producer and now a singer…
Everything is God’s talent, and you just have to
use everything. You will just have this love to use everything that is embedded
in you. While growing up I was in the children’s choir. But all along I didn’t
know I had a voice.
It was when I got to secondary school that I said,
maybe I can sing. We had a school choir, and then I would mime Celine Dion,
Wyclef Jean and all the other songs I loved easily. Then I discovered that I
could write songs and compose poems.
What
category would you place your songs?
I won’t call them traditional songs; I would need
to give it a name. Because it sounds like R&B, but most lyrics are in
Yoruba because it is featured in a Yoruba movie. By God’s grace I might end up
releasing its audio or video later. It is like R&B, I am yet to place a
name on it.
I grew up listening to the likes of Whitney
Houston, but R. Kelly is my best. And I love worship songs too. I.D. Cabasa
really tried, he was God-sent; the way he mixed it, it will cut across deep
traditional people and the present contemporary world. My dad and my grandma
could hear the lyrics.
The period
TK found you and now, what can you say about it?
I thank God because the road to the top is not
all smooth. If I tell you all has been smooth, then I am not telling the truth.
I read that if you are aiming for the top and everything is straight, then it
is not leading anywhere. You need to go back. I won’t say everything has been
straight. There are times that everything would be all nice and it would be
like magic. I mean, like from one movie location to the next; then get invite
for award, travel abroad and I would be like life is sweet. And then, next,
everything will be like “phew”.
I might just go broke, no awards, no travelling,
and face some challenges. All these things make me sit back and know that there
is somebody called God. It is not that He can’t make everything straight for
us, but because we are human beings, if He makes everything straight for us, we
won’t remember Him and may feel it’s by our own strength that we are making it.
Making this movie was very challenging for me; it’s been God – even meeting
Tunde Kelani himself was the making of God. I am not a Lagos girl, but grew up
in Ilorin all my life and here I am, starring in the best film-maker’s movie.
Things that could have been a bit difficult have been easy for me.
Would you
say you got the role of Arugba because of your innocent looks?
It was just God O. When I got that role, which was in 2003, I was still an
undergraduate. And in 2004 I came to Lagos for a proper visit to do my IT at MiTV.
That was the time I made up my mind that I would look for Mainframe Production
outfit. I didn’t even know there was someone called TK. With their movie jacket
I collected from Ilorin, I asked my uncle who I was staying with at Ojodu
Berger where Oshodi was.
I took the jacket and went to a call centre to
call their landline that same day I got to Lagos; somebody picked it and asked
what I wanted. I replied that I wanted to speak to the M.D., and the person
asked what I wanted again and I asked if they had space for IT and the person
replied no. I was sad, but if you have a dream you shouldn’t just sit down and
expect magic to happen; you have to take some drastic steps. And you don’t have
to do some dirty stuff to get there; don’t be desperate. I called again and I
was able to convince the person to let me come over to their office. I went
back to my uncle, who gave me money and direction; they didn’t want to
discourage me.
I went back in 2006 and introduced myself and he (TK)
said he didn’t know me. And he asked what I wanted and I said I wanted to act.
Then they were working on Abeni, but
he was through with casting and asked me to try other places, which I did. On
December 19, 2007, my birthday, I prayed to God and said I wanted a birthday
present. I didn’t know he was working on Arugba;
he had auditioned a lot of people, in fact, celebrities. I just went and said, ‘Sir,
do you remember me?’ And he said he had not seen me before (laughs).
I said I had been coming, and that I was done
with school, youth service and all I wanted to do now was act. He asked if I
could speak Yoruba, that I speak English too much. I said, ‘I can, Sir.’ So he
gave me a script, called another lady who I was auditioned alongside. He asked
me to come back and gave me the script again to read. I did, and went back that
I was through. He asked me to go back again, and I was like, ‘This one is
strict o.’ After that he asked me what I was doing for Christmas and I said I
was travelling, so he gave me the script to take with me. I didn’t know I had
gotten it. That was it.
What about
your move to the English sector?
I started with English movies. And my very first
was in Ilorin. The producer was new too, and it was an English movie, but a
Yoruba setting and I played the lead. The movie only made waves in Ilorin. I
also did the sound track of the movie. That was the movie a Yoruba producer saw
and called me to come to Lagos to act a Yoruba movie titled Mundia; I played sub-lead.
After I did that, I was not getting any roles
again because Yoruba movies do not do auditions. So in 2007 I made up my mind
to start going for auditions in English movies and I was getting roles. I got
so many roles; in fact God didn’t start with me with waka pass (insignificant roles). But I was at that moment not
particular about any, I just wanted to act.
It went as far as getting to Abe Igi at the National Theatre, and the crowd you will see there,
you will know it is only God that can pick you out. You too, you will pray for waka pass. My first English movie was Poisonous Affairs. I played sub-lead
alongside Monalisa Chinda, Desmond Elliot and others. After that I got other
sub-lead roles playing alongside A-list actors. So, the whole of 2007 I was
doing English and then one Yoruba movie with Oga Bello, who God used for me too
in my career.
At the end of 2007 I got Arugba and the whole of 2008, knowing how Tunde Kelani works; he is
someone that will not be satisfied until he releases the movie. I didn’t have
the time to go back for auditions. That was what took me away from the English
movies, and I pray I am still going to do English as time goes.
Were you
intimidated working with the A-list actors?
I was not intimidated. I am a professional
actress, a Theatre Arts graduate. If you only have the talent and are not a
professional you can be intimidated acting alongside your senior colleagues for
the first time. When I was jittery was when I got Arugba, where the likes of Bukky Wright, Lere Paimo, Dele Odule
were mentioned and I was playing the lead.
So I was like, how can this small me be playing
lead, while they were playing sub? What would I do now? I was scared. These
were people that I have been watching before I became an actress. But Tunde
Kelani and God made it simple for me. He said, ‘You will do your own and they
will do their own.’
What was
your parent’s reaction when you told them you were moving out?
I came for my youth service, I stayed with my
uncle but then he moved to his own home in Mowe. Which was far for me, and then
I was going for auditions and then we were having problems. I would be out late
and they wouldn’t sleep and be worried to know if I was fine. So I moved to
stay with a sister who is in the industry.
I wanted to get a house when I was still serving,
but my dad said, ‘Never, you will not stay alone.’ So I went to stay with my
cousin, who is married now. But you know, staying with people, you know how it
is. So when my dad saw how it went, he didn’t have a choice. It was few months after
I finished my youth service that I got Arugba.
I was just moving from one place to another, and surviving in Lagos is not
easy. And acting roles were coming. They could not ask me to come back to
Ilorin. And during my youth service I had done like three movies, which I took
home for them to see.
So, they were like, okay, this is success, they
can’t stop me. And since they don’t live in Lagos, so where would I stay? I
stay alone with God and His angels.
You are
yet to take up challenging roles. Why?
As an actress I can play any role. But I don’t
believe in you exposing parts of your body, I don’t see it as fashion. If I am
playing a prostitute, I will have to wear some dresses that will tell who I am.
So is playing a banker or lawyer, without you hearing my lines.
If I am playing the role of prostitute, I would
have to wear my short dress, but you don’t have to see my boobs. I don’t like
exposing my boobs. If it happens you see it, it is by accident. Not that it is
intentional.
Are you
saying on a normal day, you can’t be caught wearing short wears?
Nah nah! On a normal day, you won’t see me like I
am dressed going out; I’m not on set and you see my boobs out.
2011 was
your year of awards. What happened in 2012?
It was my year of nominations, but I didn’t get
any awards and it was my year of movies too. I mean, I was just doing movies.
But in 2011 I was just getting nominated and getting awards; I got like six.
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