Yejide and Akin’s path crosses at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife. It is not really love at first sight for both of them but there are some forces pulling them together. Akin give up his relationship and insist on Yejide. With time she agrees, and with time they become husband and wife, and that is when the drama that will make a good movie begins.
Baba Segi has plenty children or so he thinks, but still goes ahead to marry a new wife. His three other wives give her hell. They are also afraid of her because of a secret that binds them. In this secret is a drama that is bound to make the cinema bubble with laughter.
And there is this story of four men—Donatus, Chidi, Osahon and Haruna. Connecting all of them is Yinka, who preys on their avarice and ignorance.
Donatus is a photojournalist who worked for a newspaper whose publisher is a big-for-nothing fool. Salaries were not paid promptly, allowances non-existent and welfare zero. Chidi is an undergraduate who suddenly feels the urge to hit it big. Osahon, on the other hand, has been on the run from Benin where he is wanted for cult-related offence. As for Haruna, his case is different; the medical doctor just feels tired of Nigeria after his mother’s death and he feels going abroad is it.
Their displeasure with Nigeria leads them all to Yinka, whose motive for wanting to help them go abroad is far from noble. The signs that Yinka’s gestures may not be noble are glaring, but these men are blinded by their frustration with Nigeria. Their minds are simply no longer here. Even when family members call these guys’ attention to possible danger in Yinka’s offer; they lie to make the whole thing look good. All that is important is to just get out of Nigeria, which is likened to hell.
In another instance, there is Esi, a girl whose mother is Nigerian, and her father is Ghanaian. She is forced to do things she does not want to do but she asserts herself against all odds.
These scenarios are from four books: Yejide and Akin are the narrators in Ayobami Adebayo’s Stay With Me; Baba Segi and his wives are the must-love characters in Lola Shoneyin’s Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives or Secret Lives of Four Wives; Donatus and co are in Nze Sylva Ifedigbo’s My Mind is no longer here; and Esi is the darling of Bisi Adjapon’s Of frog and Women.
These books and many others, I believe, will make good movies. Some weeks ago, Stella Damasus, the Atlanta-based Nigerian thespian who is a pioneer of our movie industry known as Nollywood, was involved in a twitter battle over the pending adaptation of Americanah, the amazing love story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
The 2013 novel tells the story of a young Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, who immigrates to the United States to attend university. She is in love with Obinze, who eventually relocates to London but finds life as an illegal immigrant difficult. He is bundled back home and fortunes later smile on him.
Distance breaks them up. Ifemelu starts another relationship and then another one, but her heart remains with Obinze, who also moves on by getting married and starting a family. But for the two of them, what goes up must come down.
Of Adichie’s three novels, Americanah seems to have made the most impact. Like her Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah is set to go on the screen.
Over the years there have been many Hollywood movies with Nigerian characters played by people from other nations. Their interpretations of the roles have always been subjects of disagreements. This is where Stella is coming from and I am sure this will continue when the series goes on air. People will watch out to see how Lupita, who is from Kenya, will pronounce Igbo names. Will she speak Igbo?
Biyi Bandele’s adaptation of Half of a Yellow Sun was enmeshed in a similar controversy. Not a few felt the twins should have been played by Nigerians instead of Thandie Newton (Olanna) and Anika Noni Rose (Kainene).
Nollywood is an industry that is cash-challenged. Acquiring screen rights of internationally-published works, such as Americanah, does not come cheap. By some agreement, ace cinematographer and director Tunde Kelani adapted some literary works of the late Akinwunmi Isola, such as Kosegbe and Oleku. Jude Dibia’s Walking with Shadows is also set to become a movie. I am sure no one dictated the choice of lead actors to either Kelani or Funmi Iyanda, the force behind the adaptation of Dibia’s book.
Unlike Nollywood, the adaptation of literary works is commonplace in Hollywood. Movies, such as The Hate U Give, Crazy Rich Asians, If Beale Street Could Talk and hundreds of others, are made from books. Unconfirmed reports say over half of Hollywood movies were first books.
Like Stella, I believe Nollywood is blessed with great actors. She is one. So are Genevieve, Stephanie, Rita, Omoni Oboli, Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD), Toyin Abraham, Olu Jacobs, Adesua Etomi-Wellington and many others.
While the talents of Toyin and many others are not in doubt, it is not an automatic ticket that when Nigeria-centred roles are available in Hollywood it will be waiting for them. Genevieve and Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde have a measure of international fame, but even at that power (role) is never served a la carte. There are other considerations other than talents.
He who pays the piper calls the tune. Movie-making, like publishing, is business and the investors are always concerned about how to recoup their investment. This is, for me, a genuine concern. They are not into charity. If they feel that they need Hollywood actors to get the return on their investment, we certainly cannot begrudge them.
Aside Stay With Me and others earlier mentioned, I have been told Nigerian novels, such as Night Dancer, On Black Sisters’ Street, The Fishermen, Son of Man, In the Name of Our Father and Ayodele Olofintuade’s Lakiriboto Chronicles, will make good movies.
Eghosa Imasuen’s second novel Fine Boys, in which boys love blood, violence, and they feel insecure without the badge of confraternity, looks like what will also be good for the big screen. Richard Ali’s debut novel, City of Memories, in which Eunice and Dibarama have followers who are ready to kill and die for them, is also an interesting tale that can sit well on the big screen.
I look forward to seeing these gripping stories on the big screen. Whether it is Hollywood or Nollywood, I do not care. All I want is for the books to become movies for us to enjoy.
My final take: The Federal Government, through any of its arts-related agencies, should help movie makers option great books and turn them to movies. This way, the publishing industry, especially the creative writing sector of it, will be given a lifeline. I dare say it is gasping for breath now and badly in need of oxygen.
‘The Federal Government, through any of its arts-related agencies, should help movie makers option great books and turn them to movies. This way, the publishing industry, especially the creative writing sector of it, will be given a lifeline. I dare say it is gasping for breath now and badly in need of oxygen’
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