Veteran actor and Chieftain of the Labour Party, Kenneth Okonkwo has narrated how a movie he starred in, Living in bondage, changed his perspective that Nigerians do not have problems with each other.
In an exclusive interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica, Kenneth Okonkwo said the first Living in bondage movie which was shot in Igbo language do not have subtitles. He said people of other ethnicities who watched it like that and enjoyed it clamoured that the movie be subtitled so they can understand what was said in it.
He said, “That movie helped to change my perspective about Nigeria. Because when it came out the first time, it was not subtitled. That subtitle you are seeing in it, the original one that came out didn’t have it.
But the clamour of our brothers, the Hausas, the Igbos, they were the ones who insisted that we must subtitle it. Because they were enjoying it and they wanted to know everything that was said in the movie.
If they had anything against an Igbo man, if they had anything against Igbo language, they wouldn’t fall in love with that movie. And so we went back and subtitled it. That was how it kick-started Nollywood. That was why I believe that the spirit of excellence is the greatest antidote to any primordial sentiments.
This country, they do not have any problems against each other. It’s the leaders that are formulating all these divisions in other to divide the people so they will continue to rule them irrespective of their incompetence and corruption.
And you cannot convince me against the Hausas, the Yorubas, the Efiks. So when I sit down and say they love me, I am saying it factually because they’ve demonstrated it. When I sit down and say they don’t hate Igbos, I am saying it factually because they’ve demonstrated it.”
