Yoruba Movie Stars are Mostly Used & Dumped – Veteran Actor “Pa James”

Kayode Olasehinde also known as Ajirebi is famous for his role in Wale Adenuga‘s hit series Papa Ajasco. He plays the very funny old man called Pa James.

In an interview with Tope Olukole of Yoruba TV station Orisun TV, he chats about the role he has played for more than 13 years, and the Nigerian movie industry.

When he was asked why he doesn’t feature in a lot of Yoruba movies these days, he says;

“I do feature in some selected few. You see, our people in Yoruba movie sector seem to belong to the set of people I would refer to as ‘Use and Dump’. Though they didn’t do that to me, they have done it to some people. They would patronize you and offer you peanut, and the moment you demand for a higher pay, they would abandon you and by so doing, their movies are lacking in some areas. You will notice that some of the things we introduced into movies to create suspense are no longer there. They are aware, but because they don’t want to spend much, they overlook such areas. What they normally do is to call their friends to come and partake in their movies and give them something, not the correct fee. But now, this career has gone beyond giving casts transport fare alone, while they (producers) would buy cars after the production. They want to cheat us. If a producer comes to me and we agree on fees, I will feature in his movie, but no more peanuts. I have paid my dues and I have responsibilities to meet.”