Halimat Abubakar has
had her share of controversies during her brief career in Nollywood. She came
into the industry with a bang wearing skimpy and provoking clothings. She got a
lot of criticism, that only propelled her career, as the roles kept coming in.
Today, she is an house hold name, and her skimpy days seems to be over. She
spoke with me recently,
and she revealed how she was about her sojourn. She also debunked talks that she was disowned by her father
We haven't been
seeing you in movies of recent, where have you been?
Well, you don't watch movies, if you do, you'll see me. I
have been featuring in movies. it’s not like I went into hiding or anything
like that.
You came into the
scene some five six years back, what, really attracted you to the industry?
Actually it will be 11 years ago this year that I started
acting. The love for acting actually propelled me into it. I used to watch a
lot of foreign movies and I said to myself I could as well do more than they
were doing and that was how I decided to move forward and here I am today doing
it in my own country and in our own way.
Marriage seems to be
the in-thing for actresses now, when are we expecting yours?
Well, can't really say for now. I won’t tell you today or
tomorrow. When it’s time it’s time. You all we be notified when it comes.
Really I won’t want to talk about that for now. I am only concentrating on my
work, trying to make my own movies. (read on)
What was your most
challenging movie role you ever had?
I have not yet had one because every movie that I have done
have been challenging enough, not leaving movie locations on time is
challenging enough, so every movie role is challenging.
Tell us about growing
up as a child for you?
I grew up in Kano, I am from a family of six and I am the
third now the second born. We all grew up in Kano but we are from Kogi state.
Please don't make any mistake by saying I am from Kano, I am not from Kano, I
am from Kogi State, I only grew up in Kano, I
have not been reading what I say when I say I am not from Kano state. I
grew up half and half all over Nigeria partly in Kano, Katsina, Lagos and back
in Kano.
Did your parents really
support you acting?
My parents did not know I was acting for four years, until
they saw a movie by chance and I was sitting right there watching television
with them and my face just popped up, and that movie was "Gang star
Paradise" and I had a lot of explanation to do. But I did convince them
though it was not easy. They got it at the end of the day.
There is this
insinuation that your father disowned you some years back. Is it true?
No, there was nothing like that. There was nothing like
that. We only had a minor disagreement just like any other father and daughter.
You know we all have our differences and we are bound to reconcile. That was a
long time ago and it was nothing serious.
Will you say you
don’t regret joining Nollywood?
Nollywood is growing rapidly, and I am proud to still
contribute the little way I can and proud to be around. And I want to say thank
you to all the people who have supported me to where I am today and those who I
have supported too. E no easy
What's the best
script you took on?
Obviously without been sentimental I am going to say it's Queen Shebba, Lost maiden and a Kiss on a
royal balcony Which I shot in November for Onyeze and so far I think that's
the biggest job I have had, because I had about 100 scenes I shot and I think
that's huge.
What should your fans
expect for 2012?
2012 is in God's hands, I executed my first movie as a
producer last year in November and hopefully I'll do more things this year.
I'll really like to contribute my own quota, because I see some very young
talents around, which I will like to support in my own way. I am not doing a
big budget but you have to start small to become big that's my motto.
You seem to also have
your own charity?
I have been doing charity for a long time now, I did that as
a child while growing up and I just have a passion for helping people. I hate
to see people hungry. I have not asked anyone to sponsor me yet. I use the
money I get in a movie and split into three, for my family, my self and
charity. It is not much but it is something. I have never asked anyone to come
and contribute a penny on it I have been doing that alone, probably this year I
am going to involve one or two people but so far I have done everything alone.
We get to understand
that acting is a very time consuming job, how do you get to relax?
Yes it is, but I work straight for six months and take one
month to rest. But sometimes we shoot throughout the night so there's not time
to sleep, basically we are not resting, so when you need your life and you need
good health you create your time for rest, because some people will not stop
until they break down, you don't need to do every job before people will know
you can act, that's greed. People should just take it easy with work and try to
rest some times.
Which of your fellow
colleagues will you say you admire the most?
There are a lot of them. I love Omotola because of her
interpretation of roles. I love Genevieve for been detailed. Stella Damasus for
her punctuality on script, Joke silva, Eucharia Anuobi and a whole lot of
others, and for the younger generation I love them all.
What are the things
you don’t like about the industry?
There are some of these so called upcoming that do not know
their bearing, they just want to come on location and snap pictures with stars
and then turn nuisance in the industry, thereby making them see all of us as
that. They are actually spoiling our names so they should leave it for the
professionals to do because when I see all those movies, I wonder why they even
get to give them the script in the first place. So let us differentiate them by
their acts not been useless in town and coming back to say you are an actor,
please I will fight for that because it is not right. After working so hard for
myself I will not want anybody to come and rubbish my name.
Nollywood seems to be
merging with the international market of recent with films shot abroad with
international stars. How have you been part of this?
Which of the major artiste have you seen them bring? They are trying but you have to start from
somewhere before you go global. My achievements are not based on someone but by
what God has done. I am not one of those that will sit somewhere and say
Hollywood Hollywood, that's been unrealistic. As long as you do good movies
it's no problem. Where we spend money the most is for the cameras aside that nothing
more. So which international scene are you talking about, Has Angelina Jolie
starred in any Nollywood movie? So when you say international I don't
understand.
People criticize you
for wearing skimpy, revealing clothes, what’s your take on this?
No, no, no, I don’t. May be when I was younger but not now.
I was just trying to experiment with my dressing then. That is in the past. I
no longer dress carelessly like before. I am more matured and focused now.
No comments:
Post a Comment