Yoruba actor, Olayiwola Razaq, popularly called Ojopagogo, speaks on his experience as an actor and producer, writes AKEEM LASISI
It may not be corruption-inducing like that of many politicians, artists enjoy immunity. A Yoruba adage indicates this when it says Oba kii mu okorin – the king does not harm a singer or poet. Indeed, they at times get praises and concrete rewards when they do certain things that other people get punished for.
Yoruba actor, Olayiwola Razaq, popularly called Ojopagogo, is an example in this regard. In 1986, when he was acting in a play – Ola Abata, by Labake Theatre – which was in celebration of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, he had cause to mock one of the characters in the drama. The person had saluted the Alaafin in the usual traditional way, saying, ‘ojo pa sekere’, meaning ‘rain beats the calabash/cowry drum’. In theatrical anger and folly, Lawal shouted at the man, ‘Stop there. Ojo pa sekere ko, ojo pagogo ni’, meaning instead of saying ‘rain beats the calabash drum’ why not say ‘rain beats a gong’.
The interjection was so funny that the audience not only laughed and applauded him, the Alaafin gave him some money at the end of the show. Besides, since that day, Ojopagogo became his stage name.
This is one of the eventful stories in the career of the actor, who hails from the same town – Iseyin, Oyo State – as Lagos-based comedian, Afeez Oyetoro, popularly called Saka. Although Ojopagogo is not making much noise about it for now, he clocks 30 on stage/screen this year. His acting career kicked off in 1983 when he played the role of Adekunle omo Adeoye in the enactment of the Yoruba novel, Egbinrin Ote.
Despite the lull in the film industry, Ibadan, Oyo state-based Ojopagogo has continued to be productive. Only about a week ago, he was spotted at a studio in Onipanu area of Lagos, where he was working on a the sound track of his new film, Ojumoore – (A Bright New Day).
Last year, he produced two films – Tagiiri and Olojojo, which he took to the cinema before releasing them on DVD. He says he had a mixed experience on the the adventure.
“Taking films to cinemas has its own head ache,” Lawal notes. “No matter how much you make, you would have to spend a lot of money first, especially on adverts, as you may want to be on air, make posters or even be on bill boards. And when you make some money, you find out there are different interests you have to take care of everyone will come out with a knife to cut their own shares.”
He concedes that the cinema experience gives the film a name, to the extent that before it goes on VCD, many people would have been expecting it.
On how and why he had to produce in quick succession, Ojopagogo says the person that collaborated with him – in terms of sponsorship – was pleased with the result of the first film last year. So, he quickly propelled him to return to location.
“I had to quickly shoot another film also because of the situation of the country. If it were in a country where you can wait to reap the fruits of your labour on a particular production, one would have preferred to wait, even if for 10 years. But if you do that here, you will have nothing to eat. Pirates are giving us a tough time and many marketers are not helping matters too. Even when the industry was really flourishing, many of them would not tell you the truth. In certain cases, it is the marketers that are fuelling piracy.
“The marketing network is poor. Why is it that it is only in Idumota that most of the marketers have bases? Why not have offices in other parts of Nigeria and abroad so that as soon as a film is released, it will circulate round immediately, even before pirates begin to attack it? The situation is so bad that at times when a film is released in Lagos, it will not get to Akure two weeks after. And you call that marketing?”
He adds that it is curious that some practitioners go to any length to please marketers, with some male producers becoming subservient while some women practitioners are ready to surrender their womanhood.
As part of his plans for the future, he is also currently organising audition across some cities. He wants to identify and train new talents who would be useful in the productions he has in view, including a soap. While the train has been in Oyo State, he hopes to be in Osun, Ogun and Ekiti states this April. His vision for the project is to evolve a school where various aspects of film production and marketing will be taught.