•On His Over 40 Years Career
Sunday Omobolanle needs little or no introduction. Call him Aluwe, you are right! Call him Papiluwe, you are also right. He enjoyed so much fame during his prime and he is still very popular to date. He is indeed a household name in the Nigerian movie industry. He has been around for over four decades putting a smile on the faces of Nigerians through his comic roles in movies.
Papiluwe is a native of Ilora, a noble town in Oyo State. He was born on October 1st, 1954, 6 years before Nigeria’s independence. He is one of Nigeria’s most famous veteran comedians. He is one of the founding fathers of what is known as the Home Video industry in Nigeria today, especially in the Yoruba genre. What most people may not know is that Aluwe is also a Director, Producer and Prolific writer.
He joined the movie industry in the early 70s during the glorious era of the iconic Duro Ojo Ladipo Theatre group where he began as a rookie with the zeal to become great. This he achieved as he rose to prominence years later to become one of the most sought after. Papiluwe is among the very few elders in the industry privileged to have received the national awards. He was honoured as a Member Of The Order of The Niger by the then President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in recognition of his great contributions to the Nigerian film industry.
His brand of comic art cuts across. He has featured in quite a number of movies both English and Yoruba. He is in a class of his own. His quest to promote Nigerian movies and arts has taken him beyond the shores of Nigeria and Africa.
A few days ago, City People Reporter JAMIU ABUBAKAR had a chat with the Veteran Actor where he revealed how he has been able to sustain the Aluwe stage name for over 4 decades. Sit back and enjoy the excerpts from the chat!
It’s been a while since we saw you feature in movies, what is happening?
There’s nothing wrong anywhere. Getting me to play roles in movies is strictly business and I take it as such. Although the economy is hard, the industry is doing great. We need government assistance to help us do better. I don’t have any other business than this industry but I’m okay. With one or two engagements, I’m good to go. So if you call me and pay me well, I will work with you. I’m not rich but I’m comfortable.
What is your assessment of the movie industry today as compared to what it was when you joined?
There’s improvement now. Improvement in terms of money; Movie makers make more money compared to the period that I joined. Another improvement is that our people now travel out of the country; they now get more advertisement and endorsement jobs. At its inception, movie-making started on the stage, from stage play to Television programme, from Television programme to Celluloid films, i.e. real cinema after which we ended up in home video cinema. I believe it’s a gradual thing. Bollywood didn’t start at the top. They started from a little beginning too. But thank God everybody is living good and fine now.
Tell us about the Papiluwe brand. How have you been able to sustain it over the years?
Let me make you understand one thing; whatever you want to do in your life, believe in God. You don’t need to deceive yourself. Only God can do it. It’s only God that can tune and make you great in life. I don’t see myself as a superstar. I must confess to you. All my prayers to God are that I want to be an evergreen. You know evergreen never fades. I want to be evergreen in my life. Whenever I’m with King Sunny Ade, I usually tell him that I want God to give me his type of grace. So he asked me one day why am I always seeking his type of grace? Then I told him; Sir you are always evergreen. Even the later part of your years is full of God’s grace. Till today, I still pray to God to make my life graceful like that of King Sunny Ade.
Looking back on my life, I give glory to the Almighty God. He has indeed blessed me. Through this job, I have gotten exotic cars, houses, and fame worldwide.
What’s your advice for upcoming artists?
My sole advice for the upcoming ones is to love the job and not be too desperate about making money. Everybody loves money but being too desperate is out of it. If we take it step by step, we will get to where we are going. Once they love the job, money would come, wealth would come, and they would become famous and great in the field.
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