Rose Odika is a Nollywood actress who has carved a niche in the Yoruba movie industry. In this interview with journalists including Naij.com‘s Michael Abimboye, she talks about salient industry issues.
Rose Odika
What project are you currently involved in?
It’s an event called Ewa Asa, which is to showcase the beauty of African culture, it is to appreciate the diverse cultures in the African setting, especially promoting the values of the Yoruba culture. It’s a competitive event whereby people pick up forms for N5000. It is not a beauty pageant, but an event which is in two phases. First, you pick a topic and speak undiluted Yoruba for 10 minutes without interference or break, the second phase talks about picking from aspects of incantations in Nigeria, for instance, ekun iyawo, Ifa kiki. The first prize winner goes home with N50,000, the second prize is N30,000 while the third prize is N20,000. That is my little way of giving back to the society.
You still have beautiful looks, what’s the secret?
I think I am enjoying divine grace, I take care of my social life and my health. If you don’t have any ailment you will look good, if your social life is not too rough, you will look good. So apart from God giving me good health, I have been able to maintain my social life, I don’t smoke, I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t overdo men. I am into skin care but I don’t mix harsh creams. I know what will be good for my skin and what will not be good, so that has helped me in taking care of my skin. Also, genetically from my family, we have youthful looks, you know, so it’s all about that.
You have managed to remain scandal free despite your long stay in the industry, how have you been able to maintain your career and private life?
Number one is God’s glory, number two, my father taught me well, may his soul rest in peace. My father would always tell me, ‘remember whose child you are.’ I always remember where I’m coming from so I don’t take the wrong steps. My father built a solid reputation for the family and I won’t stoop to destroy the name. Two, I don’t bite more than I can chew and I take things the way they come.
There’s this disparity between English Nollywood and Yoruba Nollywood, where do you stand on this?
The press is not helping out by terming us English actors and Yoruba actors; an actor is an actor. The Yoruba film started before the English version came up, so if some people want to claim seniority, the Yoruba industry was there before the English came up, there shouldn’t be any clash between us. Why don’t we have one body like we have the Nigerian Society of Engineers? As a professional body, we should look for a name, a sort of an umbrella to cover us, under which we can be having a yearly conference. So whatever your association is, we still need to have a body that controls all these associations and we will have a better industry I don’t believe in all this seniority [issue] in Nollywood, what, even, is Nollywood? This industry started over 20 years ago, so, these are the things we should correct and put all this egoism aside and face the serious business of the industry.
You were reported to be planning to remarry, after 10 years why is it taking you so long to remarry?
Speculations that I am planning to remarry is not true, please. I drove down to a journalist’s office to showcase my new programme. They started interviewing me and one of the questions they asked me was why I had not remarried after 10 years. I only jokingly said ‘of course I will remarry soon. Don’t you pray for me to be married some day?’ It was just a joke that spread like rumour. I like talking positively about myself and before you know it, instead of them to promote my programme and say my project Ewa Asa is in the making, or write a headline like ‘ Rose Odika hosts Ewa Asa, they speculated ‘Rose Odika is about to wed’ and I’m still saying it here that yes, I am about to wed.
But then, what are the qualities you look out for before you can put your trust in a man?
Number one, a man that can attract me must be calm in nature, the man must be very patient because I am hot- tempered and the man must be more mature than me. He must overlook things and the man must fear God and be at least 90% truthful. I want a man that will not lie, but tell me the way it is. So those are the qualities I look for in a man.
In the next few years what are your dreams for the film industry?
That’s a good question, in the next few years, I want the government to please set aside some funds for film for the actors to access.
But there was a fund given to Nollywood by the Federal Government…
Yes, but it didn’t go round, let’s thank our former president, Goodluck Jonathan, for the initiative, but we want more of it. That one didn’t circulate. For the authorities to demand collateral from us before accessing the fund is not the way we want. Some money has been set aside for the underprivileged, some for security and some for the entertainment industry.
We expect that the money set aside for us should not be paid back, we have worked for this country by projecting the image of this country, so if you say ‘producer, we are giving you this to support what you are producing,’ it is better, if you can put down money for security, you can also put down money in image making for Nigeria. Also, they should help us to get a good film village so that we won’t go about disturbing people in their respective homes. If we can be building shopping malls, a film village should be built because the entertainment industry is one of the largest employers of labour and we don’t need a certificate to be there, we only need talent.
0 comments:
Post a Comment