Olu Jacobs is Made in India for Papa Ajasco + AMAA Best Actress Crown

Olu Jacobs is Made in India for Papa Ajasco
The face of Nollywood star, Olu Jacobs is set to grace the popular television comedy series, Papa Ajasco and Company. The veteran actor will be featuring in the new series of the programme entitled Made in India.Jacobs, who’s playing the role of a Vice Chancellor in the series, says he feels good working with Wale Adenuga, the producer because “the script is treating a prevalent issue in our campuses”.Made in India dwells on the nagging issue of sexual harassment in the campuses, with the attendant tug of war between the lecturers, who indulge in it and the authorities that are equally bent on sanitising the system. “It is a good script, because it’s been a relentless war, quite traumatic for the female students. Some struggle to pay their school fees only to be harassed by some lecherous lecturers or cultists,” Olu Jabobs adds.The actor commended Adenuga for his creative ingenuity, and the subtle but consistent way he highlights the ills in the society and proffers solution through his drama programmes.“I have always been a fan of Wale Adenuga right from the days he was publishing the hilarious magazine, Ikebe Super. He’s a hard working and dedicated artiste, who infects people around him with the same kind of joy and excitement,” he states, adding, “Wale Adenuga is a detribalised Nigerian who where you come from does not matter to him but the creative talent in you,”Made in India, which would make its debut on screen soon parades adept role interpreters like Nnena (Yinka Olukunga) of the Super Story fame and a host of others. The programme was directed by ace director, Bolaji Dawodu.

AMAA Best Actress Crown: Funke ‘Jenifa’ Akindele, Stella Damasus or Stephanie Okereke?

As movie lovers begin the countdown to the 4th African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) billed for Yenagoa, Bayelsa State next Saturday April 4, 2009, a tough battle for the treasured award of “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” is imminent among six top actresses from Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.Nollywood divas Stella Damasus, Stephanie Okereke, Nse Etim and Funke Akindele of Jenifa fame will slug it out with their counterparts like Corine Onyango (Kenya) and Uadia Buari from Ghana.Although, the Best Actress Award is just one of the 24 categories of the Africa’s premiere movie awards, sponsored by UBA and Bayelsa State government, the nominations have evoked anxiety among movie buffs as to where the pendulum will eventually swing. The reasons are not far fetched as our own Stella, Stephanie and Funke can hold their own any where, any day.Stephanie and Stella are popular faces and have always joined the yearly train, but if the current form of “Bigz Girl” Funke is anything to go by, then the law graduate of the University of Lagos may be unstoppable in the race for the diadem.But then upsets can not be ruled out from other contenders from Kenya and Ghana. Buari and Cnyango may not be popular faces in Nigeria the final judgment, however, rests with the Academy of International Jurors that will pick the winners few days to the ceremony. Also on the home front, movie fans are equally anxious about the eventual winner of the laurel for the “Heart of Africa Award for Best Films from Nigeria”. Apparently, a leveler for the English and Yoruba genres of the Nigerian film industry, in contention are Izu Ojukwu’s Cindy’s Note, Tunde Kelani’s Arugba and Tchidi Chikere’s Beautiful Soul. Others include Jenifa and State-of-the-Heart by Kingsley Omoife and Richard Mofe Damijo. Surprisingly only Arugba made the nominations for the overall Best Picture Award among the nominees for Heart of Africa Award.Kelani’s film, which is making waves in cinema houses across the country, is competing with works from Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Egypt thus vindicating AMAA as a true Pan-African award. The same even spread of the Best Picture Award is replicated in the Best Director prize which also has Kelani’s Arugba slugging it out with other flicks from Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Egypt. Beside Kelani and Chikere whose films had clinched AMAA plaques in the previous years, many of the stars are actually making their debut. A regular face in home videos coming after the generation of the likes of Ramsey Noah, Jim Iyke and Emeka Ike among others, Mike Ezuruonye is one actor movie lovers cannot just push aside. The widely-travelled dude will be in Yenagoa as a contender for the prestigious Best Performance by an Actor in a leading role for his role in the film, Assassin. Another star who may be making his debut in Yenagoa is the internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer Peter Badejo. The artiste, who was honoured a few years back by the Queen of England with the Member of the British Empire (MBE) for his immense contributions to the dance art, may jet into the country for AMAA 2009. He was short listed alongside Ezuruonye for featuring in Tunde Kelani’s Arugba.