STORIES BY RITA OKOYE

Nollywood actress, Esther Audu and video director, Philip Ojire had their traditional engagement as well as their white wedding in July 2016, and ever since, they have been enjoying their marital bliss.

Unlike some other actresses who maintain low profile after marriage, Audu is not ready to change her lifestyle, just because of a change in marital status. She told Inside Nollywood how she has been coping with life as a married woman, while maintaining her acting career.

Hear her: “Yeah, I’m married now, but it makes no difference to me. I’m still the Esther you used to know. The only difference is that I’m now Mrs. Ojire. Aside this, I still live my normal life. Luckily for me, my husband supports my acting career. He is also into entertainment; he is a music video director, so he is understands my kind of work very well. He told me bluntly that if I get kissing role, I should take it and do it well; after all, it is all acting. However, before I got married, I had some roles that didn’t say well of me. So, after marriage, I maintained that.”

Audu also added that she has since forgiven all her Nollywood friends that failed to show up on her wedding day. “I understand they were busy, a lot of them were on set. But I thought they would take some steps and sacrifice a bit for me. I know their career is important but marriage is meant to be a once in a lifetime event, so I expected they would come show me some love based on that. I know I would do that for some of them, but it’s okay. That’s in the past now. They apologised later on and it has been settled. After all, they were all with me during the preparations.”

 


I actualised my dream with 1983–Bimbo Obi

Fast-rising presenter cum actress, Bimbo Obi aka Oni Bee, is gradually carving a place for herself in the film industry. The mother of one has produced her debut film entitled, 1983.

Expressing her delight on the success of the movie, Oni Bee said that it’s her dream come true. “The new flick is a dream come true and a step to greater works in my acting career. It is my first job and I see this as my baby. This production was very challenging, but it is to my delight that the work came out a success. I deliberately chose the title, 1983 because it suits the film,” she explains.

 

Shedding more light on the storyline of 1983, the beautiful starlet added: “It’s about a man who is fighting for an important position but had done something terrible in the past. He got a young and vibrant journalist who handled his PR. However, unknown to the journalist, the man was the one who murdered her parents way back. In a long run, the whole thing came back to hunt the politician.”

According to Oni Bee, the movie, which features popular faces in the Yoruba movie industry including Ibrahim Chatta, Abdullateef Adedeji, Gloria Iweuno, and Quadri Qidad among others, centers on the law of Karma and also promises to enlighten people on journalism.

 


 

Femi Odugbemi back with Battleground

Fresh from the success of the feature film, Gidi Blues, popular film producer/director, Femi Odugbemi is back with a new movie, Battleground, a collaboration with Africa Magic. 

A telenovela/thriller, Battleground revolves around the controversial and extremely wealthy patriarch of the Badmus family; and tells the story of power, love, deceit and intrigue, all packed into an hour of primetime TV.

It features an interesting mix of great talent from theatre to music, and of course, Nollywood stars like Joke Silva, Oga Bello, Gbenga Titiloye, Jide Kosoko, Kunle Coker, and Ini Dima-Okojie.

Others include Yinka Davies, Yeni Kuti, Steve Ogunleye, Bikiya Graham-Douglas, Zara Ejorh, Shaffy, Ozzy, Francis Onwochei, Hauwa Allahbura, Keturah King, and The Voice finalist, Chike.


 

Family drags bank to court over late Prince Uche’s millions

Family of the late actor, Prince James Uche, has dragged a new generation bank to court over the freezing of his account.

Though, it is a normal banking routine to freeze a dead customer’s account in order to ascertain specific details of information, the family claimed they had since provided the bank the information required so it’s time to unfreeze the account.

According to the family, the freezing of the deceased’s account has affected proper planning for his burial. And now if not for the Lagos State chapter of Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) that has put machinery in place for a befitting service of songs and candlelight ceremony for Uche, things would have gone from bad to worse.

The family is, however, hopeful that the account will be unfrozen on time so that the funeral can hold at the end of this month or early May.

Prince Uche, who had been battling with diabetes, blindness, high blood pressure and kidney disease, died on March 8, 2017 at a private hospital in FESTAC town, Lagos where he was on admission for two years.