*’…A story of love, hate, deceit, jealousy, and covetousness…’
ON occasion of his birthday, Friday September 30, ace filmmaker Kunle Afolayan gifts his public and the world of motion pictures one more exquisite taste of his prodigious creative talent with the release of ANIKULAPO on the streaming platform, Netflix.
Anikulapo, a beautiful story of romance and betrayal and revenge steeped in deep Yoruba folklore and spiritual essences, premiered Sunday, September 25, before a huge collection of who-is-who in the entertainment industry at the IMAX FilmHaus in Lekki Phase 1.
The over 2-hour flick held the audience spellbound with its high production value, great performances, scenic designs, cultural splendour and rich spectacle that came even lavishly alive on the huge screen at the IMAX.
It is perhaps the best of such gathering of eminent artists and culture patrons in recent times to witness a premiere, and even more remarkably experiential that the guests turned up in their best traditional attires, although, as expected, dominated by the Yoruba.
A story of love, hate, deceit, jealousy, and covetousness told in intrigue and dramatic suspense, Anikulapo celebrates the traditions and culture of the Yoruba people, even as it showcases the depth of spirituality of the people.
Set in Oyo kingdom of the 17th century, Anikulapo is described as one-of-a-kind mystical folklore drama revolving around the life of Saro (Kunle Remi), a young zealous clothe-weaver seeking greener pastures from his hometown of Gbogan to Oyo town, where he is lucky to have a breakthrough. But such luck comes with steep prices in which he has to mortgage his values and personal principles, leading to his eventual ruination.
A core of the plot is the action in which following his affair with Arolake (Bimbo Ademoye), Alaafin’s youngest wife, Saro was beaten to death. Akala, a mystical bird believed to give and take life, brings him back to life, leaving behind a gourd with the power to raise the dead. The gourd falls in the hand of Arolake, who then gives it to her heartbeat, Saro. Having been rejected by the community, the lovers eloped to Ilu Ojumo, where Saro uses the gourd to perform wonders of wakening up the dead, which earned him the sobriquet, ‘Anikukapo’ (one who has death in his pouch). However, his human foibles signposted by greed and lust, lead to his acquiring more wives, and abandoning the base of his fortune and life, Arolake, who drained him clean of the mystical power to resurrect the dead. The loss of his prowess at a time he needed it most, led to his untimely death. Thus, Anikulapo, is the tale of everyman, typical of one who is richly blessed with life and luck but lost it all due to human flaws. A morality tale in essence.
In Afolayan’s words “The backdrop story of this movie is from Ifa, and then we added a bit of Yoruba mythology to it. The film is basically meant to tell help people get to understand more about our culture, our beliefs, and our ways. It will portray what the Yoruba empire used to be like back in those days governance-wise and the lifestyle.”
IN realising the project, Afolayan paid tribute to the renowned Ifa priest, Ifayemi Elebuibon, the Awiise Awo of Osogbo, who he said triggered the story, some six years ago, when he narrated a tale taken from the Ifa corpus to him. The script had earlier been titled Odu (Ifa corpus), but has had to be renamed Anikulapo, to capture the full essence of the cultural ideas explored in the plot.
The film, therefore, is to celebrate the idea of love, life, and death as enunciated in Yoruba cultural philosophy, and as recorded in the people’s spiritual essences, said Afolayan.
A part of the Netflix multi-title agreement with the Kunle Afolayan Production and Golden Effects studios, Anikulapo is a proudly Nigerian story, shot entirely with a Nigerian crew and cast, and on location at the KAP Film Village Studio and Resort, which Afolayan is building in his mother’s hometown of Komu and Igbojaye in Oyo town, Oyo State.
Aside from the lead actors — Kunle Remi, Bimbo Ademoye, Shola Sobowale, and the Hollywood star, Hakeem K. Kazeem — the film parades a super cast of famous actors in the Yoruba movie world, mostly all graduates of the famed travelling folk theatre. These include Kareem Adepoju (aka Babawande), Adewale Adeoye (aka Elesho), Adebayo Salami (aka Oga Bello), Sunday Omobolanle, (aka Aluwe), Taiwo Hassan (aka Ogogo), Dele Odule, Moji Olayiwola, Ariyike Owolagba, Toyin Afolayan, Aisha Lawal, Ibironke Ojo-Anthony, Moji Afolayan, Jinadu Ewele, , Olayiwola Razaq. Other popular faces on stage and screen featured in the film include, Ropo Ewenla, Debo Adedayo aka Mr Macaroni, and the Ikorodu Bois. Chief Elebuibon played the role of Baba Awo in the film; and it was his revelations through oracular wisdom that eventually led to the unveiling of the true character of Saro, who against his initial protest was renamed Anikulapo in Ilu Ojumo. The lesson here is metaphorical albeit sourced from the Yoruba moral lore: a lie may have travelled (existed) for centuries, it takes a moment for the truth to unravel it.
‘No other movie you should plan to see on Netflix than Anikulapo’
IN a release via his KapHub News platform today, to announce the birthing of the film on Netflix, Afolayan, also known for such highly successful work as Figurine, Phone Swap, October 1, Roti, Mokaliki, and Citation among others, stated:
“Storytelling is the force that binds us together, fueling emotions and lending an ear to the lips that tell the untold tales and hidden stories.
“Finding your identity in an unknown culture is possible because we are all humans after all and though you can’t relate to the beliefs and ways of life of a said people, you can understand their pain, emotions, and feelings (if only told well)
“Anikulapo – he who has death in his pouch, tells the story of love, hate, deceit, jealousy, and covetousness, you’ll feel the intrigue, suspense, anger, and empathy.
“In less than 24 hours, you’ll experience the power of love, the pride that goes before a fall and the abuse of power.
“The story’s originality, the rarity of the storytelling technique, and the actors’ professionalism will have you on the edge of your seat.
“There’s no other movie you should plan to see on the 30th of September 2022 – tomorrow, rather than Anikulapo.
“Find out how the power of love works out the impossible, how death collects what it’s owed, how deceit betrays trust, how love turns to resentment, resentment to hate and eventually, destroys all the parties involved.”
INTERVIEW
‘My father completely discouraged anyone of us from going into filmmaking or acting’
(Being excerpt from an interview with #WithChude)
AWARD-winning filmmaker and actor Kunle Afolayan sat with Chude Jideonwo, host of #WithChude and founder of Joy, Inc., to speak about his father’s passing, the legacy his father left and the work he is doing as a filmmaker and a businessman.
“He died at the age of 56, that is pretty young. But I think he had to die for some of us to be doing what we are doing today. When people die, it is because their time is up. The reason there is continuity is that his name is being heard everywhere because of what we are doing now,” he said. “When he was alive, my father completely discouraged anyone of us from going into filmmaking or acting. He said there was no money in it. These were the things I learnt that helped me structure the business side of what I do because I don’t want to end up like him. I remember that after he passed, then Nollywood came. Then I would see these films with beautiful stories and compare them to the films that my father and Ogunde made, based on the production quality. The stories are great, but how come the audio is bad, and the makeup is lousy; What can we do? So, I said I wanted to become a filmmaker; I never said I wanted to be an actor”.
On building a brand as a distinguished and internationally recognized filmmaker, he said, “When you orchestrate something and say ‘this is what I am going to do’, at that time you are not sure of how far it will go. I just said I wanted to be different; that has always been my thing. So, I said let me capitalize on what people are not doing right and things they are not paying attention to. And I picked some of those things, like, why don’t they grade? At that time, nobody was grading”.
He also addressed concerns that his films do not appeal to the mass market. “All the films I have done in my life, people have always said it is not for the mass market. And I say, “Okay, but it is for international markets and intellectual markets”. My films travel, and it is better than me saying it is for the mass market here. The platforms the films are shown also determine who gets to see the film. We are always just saying that these films are not for the mass market, these films get pirated, and you see them everywhere. And when they are everywhere, it means that the mass market is watching it”.
On the effect of piracy on the work he does, he shared, “It is just because I was born to be who I am that I have not died. Because I have gone through so much for me to not be relevant or not do anything today. The films we do, we put a lot of money into it, most of these funds are mine. So, if you put money and your films are now been pirated, especially when you have proof, will you not shout? But because we attach sentiments to everything in this country, it is difficult to talk”.
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