•Reveals The Story Of ANIKULAPO
It’s a known fact that Kunle Afolayan is one of the exceptional film makers in the entertainment industry. He has made it a point of duty to produce award-winning movies, back-to-back. In his almost two decades in the entertainment industry, he has produced movies such as The Figurine; Araromire which won five major awards at the African Film Academy and was very successful in Nigerian movie theatres. He has equally produced big movies such as October 1st, Swallow, Phone Swap, Citation, and a host of others.
In 2013, at the first edition of the Nollywood Week in Paris, his movie, Phone Swap premiered and won the public choice award.
In 2020, his movie Citation won Best International Film at National Film Awards, sponsored by Rosa Faizzad in the United Kingdom. Kunle Afolayan has remained one film maker who settles for the best in producing movies. From casts to locations, props, equipment, everything is always top-notch and fans are always looking forward to watching every movie from this award-winning film producer.
When his latest movie titled: “Anikulapo” was premiered on Netflix, many were not surprised by the accolades the movie has been receiving, globally. A lot of people tagged it Kunle Afolayan’s best movie, though some critics still had their own observation on the award winning movie and they also shared their views about the movie on Social Media.
Just a few weeks ago, the movie was turned down by the Nigerian Oscars Committee, despite all the accolades. The academy had considered that the movie didn’t deserve to be nominated despite the commendations it has received since its release.
The producer, Kunle Afolayan, had also responded to the rejection. According to him: “I am so pleased and delighted that the whole world has decided to tag Anikulapo film “a master piece” even though the Nigerian Oscar Selection Committee think it’s not worth submitting for the Oscars. Will keep making and doing my own thing”.
Kunle Afolayan also revealed – Anikulapo is similar to the HBO series game of thrones but with a better representation of the Nigerian culture. The movie was shot on the latest project site, KAP Film Village Studio and Resort, Igbojaye, Komu in Itesiwaju Local Government, Oyo State. The movie tells the tale of an Aso Oke weaving traveller, Saro played by Kunle Remi, from Gbongan, seeking greener pastures in the old Oyo kingdom. In an unfolding event, he fell in love and had an affair with the Alaafin’s (King) most favourite wife, Arolake, played by Bimbo Ademoye.
Their affair was discovered and this made the King, played by Taiwo Hassan a.k.a Ogogo, order the palace guards to execute the stranger, Saro, for defiling his wife. Saro, while on the brink of death, was saved by his lover who stopped a mystic bird “Eye Apala” from taking Saro’s soul. Arolake stole the bird’s powers, which have the ability to resurrect people from the dead. One unique factor about this movie is the fact that he blended the old and new stars to deliver a perfect script interpretation. Many are of the opinion that Anikulapo is far better than his old movies such as Swallow, October 1st, Citation, Phone Swap, amongst others.
It was also revealed that Kunle Afolayan bought a 40-acre of land and built it and it’s called KAP Film Village Studio, to produce the movie with all infrastructure and building. He built everything from scratch to suit the production, considering the story was about the old Oyo Kingdom. The movie was shot in Oyo State.
The language spoken by several characters in the movie was the deep Yoruba dialect. According to the lead character in Anikulapo, Kunle Remi who acted Saro, revealed that his biggest challenge while playing Saro was that he had to speak Yoruba all through.
From the casting to the acting, to the costumes, to the locations used everything was top-notch. It features stars such as Kunle Remi, Bimbo Ademoye, Hakeem Kazeem, Sola Sobowale, Taiwo Hassan, Fathia Balogun, Adebayo Salami, Kareem Adepoju, Moji Olayiwola, Aisha Lawal, amongst others.
It was also revealed that over the years, since Citation acquired by Netflix, their partnership has failed to produce a film at its very best until Anikulapo. Though many have condemned the sex scene in Anikulapo, which involved Kunle Remi and Bimbo Ademoje, as unecessary, but casting the pair as lovers is one of the best decisions made by Kunle, as their chemistry was so strong they have been trending on Social Media, and this has in a way helped the movie.
– Biodun Alao
Send Us News, Gist, more... to citypeopleng@gmail.com | Twitter: @CitypeopleMagz
