Nollywood stories are better than Hollywood, Bollywood – Veteran actor, Nkem Owoh

Award-winning Nigerian actor, Nkem Owoh popularly known as Osuofia, has said the type of stories being told in Nollywood movies makes it better than that of its global counterparts Hollywood and Bollywood.

Speaking on Thursday, he said Nigerian movies present real life stories and happenings around the immediate society, so it is wrong to compare the quality of domestic films to those produced in advanced countries.

Nkem Owoh further explained that Nigerian filmmakers were only adopting the use of technology imported from the developed nations.

He said; “The storyline we take is better than any story from any woods, we don’t have the technology, but we have the story.

“We are a third world country coming up, and people should give us kudos for the level we have attained.

“I believe, with the stories and creativity among us, if we get the needed technology, we will go places”.

The veteran actor further said that with the availability of advanced technology in Nollywood, the industry has witnessed immense improvement.

He said; “If you check the time and how we started, you give kudos because we are making a tremendous progress in the industry.

“With the kind of technology we have now, I believe Nollywood has a very far distance to go positively”.

In other entertainment news, Nollywood movie star, Charles Awurum has said that veterans like him stopped acting in every movie due to the poor standard of the ones produced in modern times.

He stated this during an interview while talking about the little effort and resources new filmmakers invest in movie production.

According to the comic act, unprofessional producers without any training shoot movies with as low as N200,000 and that is not how it used to be.

He also claimed that actors and actresses pay the filmmakers to give them roles in their movies that will make them popular.

Awurum said; ”People just shoot movies anyhow these days. If you do not have enough money to shoot a movie, you stop. You don’t just shoot any movie. This is why most of us, the oldies, no longer partake in every film. With N200,000, some people will move to shoot a film. Actors now pay to partake in movies just for popularity, instead of them to be paid. And where there are no producers or directors that are professionally trained, they just take a space somewhere and they shoot a film.”

The actor further said that he is very picky about the kind of movie he partakes in now which is why people hardly see him in as many films as before.

”I have been shooting but I am not in every film because so many things are happening now. People are just shooting anything, any type of script that comes up. So, I choose what I do”, he said.

Awurum added; ”The industry is growing, most movies we shoot now can stand the test of time. You can match them with that of the white men. We are moving higher and as an actor, if you allow the train to leave you, you should not blame anyone or say you are being segregated. What we are shooting now is no longer what we used to shoot before; if you check the locations of the movies that we are shooting now, you will know that we have gone far.

Everything seems to be like that of the western world. So, when you act in movies that will not go anywhere, you do not expect to be applauded. These people eager to be on the screen are not trained, paid, they do everything by themselves and they still pay for it.”