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| Photo Credit: DIK Photography |
Written by Dexterous Tunjman RamRoy
Sultry Yoruba actress and CEO, MAG DIVA fashion outfit, Mercy Aigbe-Gentry called out the publisher of ThisDay style for leaving out her picture on the cover page of the new edition of the magazine which features best dressed Nollywood acts.
According to the recipient of the best dressed female actress in the recent African Magic viewers Choice Award (AMVCA), the discrimination against the Yoruba acts in Nollywood is becoming too nauseating that one would begin to wonder if Nollywood starts and ends with folks who go about faking British accent.
Not quite twenty four hours that Aigbe laid bare her mind on the segregation going on in the industry, Iyabo Ojo, another popular Yoruba actress took to Instagram to lend her voice to the unhealthy discrimination. She berated the publisher of ThisDay Style for leaving out the picture of her colleague who is undoubtedly one of the most fashionable in the industry.
Mercy and Ojo may be right in their submission in this regard especially when one consider how badly dressed some celebrities whose pictures adorned the cover page are. It's even safe to conclude that Mercy who just added an award to her growing fashion profile was intentionally excluded. Maybe to send a strong signal to Yoruba acts that ThisDay is owned by an Igbo man and therefore can only feature on its cover page 'sons and daughters of the soil' who are keeping businesses in Iweka Road and Pounds Road alive.
However, one should be careful while making a case for Yoruba actors and actresses as to why they are discriminated against by their English speaking counterparts. One cannot totally blame it on nepotism because there are Yoruba acts who started their acting career with Igbo/English movies and there are other cross-over acts who fit perfectly into major roles in non-Yoruba movies.
The Olu Jacobs, Joke Silvas, Bukky Ajayis, Omotola Jalade Ekeindes, Shola Fosudos, Bimbo Manuels, Bimbo Akintolas of this world are wonderful Yoruba thespians that can pick up roles in inter-cultural movies and still interpret their given role perfectly. Funke Akindele is also one actress that can't be sidelined when it comes to versatility in the industry. Meanwhile, one thing worked for all the aforementioned people that most Yoruba actors don't give a hoot about and that is EDUCATION.
When I say education, it does not necessarily mean going back to the university or polytechnic to learn the fundamentals of film production. Education comes in different forms and traveling to advanced countries to see how movies are made is part of it. Unfortunately, some Yoruba actors and actresses are only seen abroad attending shows of their favourite fuji artistes or at home attending a 'bra less' party organized by one NURTW boss.
As perfect as many of us take the great cinematographer (Tunde Kelani) to be, he still reads books. Infact many of his works are adaptations from books. Ask an average Yoruba actor when last he picked up an ordinary brighter grammar to read and you'd be amazed by his answer. If you doubt me, try and see a contemporary Yoruba movie that centres on education (without known faces as casts) then you'll get what I'm talking about. No doubt we have so many talented persons in the industry but majority of them feel too comfortable when they gain little prominence. We have characters who can't take up more challenging roles just because they think they are not wired for those roles.
Another reason Yoruba acts usually get sidelined in the corporate world is their inability to produce movies worth the investment of corporate bodies. Although the likes of Funke Akindele, Kunle Afolayan, Dayo Amusa, Iyabo Ojo and of course, Mercy Aigbe are beginning to think out of the box, it still doesn't change the fact that most Yoruba movies are mere materials to get the producers out of poverty no wonder Bolade Shopping Arena is saturated with low quality films.
While I don't put all the blames on them, they should work on their individual selves and give their English speaking counterparts a run for their money by churning out quality movies every Nigerian can relate to and not just movies creating paranoia.
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