Nollywood actress Bimbo Akintola has carved a niche for herself, especially in movies that tell the stories of women’s plights and the girl-child.
The 51-year-old actress made her acting debut in Owo Blow (1995) and later starred alongside Richard Mofe-Damijo in Out of Bounds (1997).
According to Bimbo, her film is not about entertainment it’s about being able to change lives, and tell stories of people so they will see that they are not alone.
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“I am always one sucker for anything that has to do with women and the girl child. You can catch me in those kinds of stories; those are my favourite stories. In the film “Widows the morning after”, with Jide Odomosu, I had a woman work up to me, she was crying, and she said that was the story you told.
‘‘When I meet people who have been affected by the stories. That, for me, was a high point that moved me beyond words. And when our movies impact changes in our society, that’s a high point for me.
I understand and see the plight of the girl child. I have always worked with organisations that have dealt with sexual assaults and other related issues.”
Talking about where Nollywood is heading and what she hopes to contribute she said, “What you will see in the next five years is already there.
“The quality and acting these days is outstanding and I think more of that will continue I tell people that we don’t really tell our stories, we talk about relationship and all that but we don’t really tell our stories and if we don’t, the white will come and do it for us.
“Nollywood has standards now and grading for films which shows you what kind of film and when you see it on Netflix you know that it is a huge budget in terms of what we normally shoo but the truth is we do need structuring in the industry because they way we run the industry now allow for exploitation of people who are not known.
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The pay gap from the waka pass to the established actors is huge not like the established actors are getting what they deserve but it’s really huge.”
Speaking on her take on her colleague running for deputy governor of Lagos state Bimbo said, I think more and more people who feel they have a service to give this country should step up.
Nigeria needs all the help so they need to step up. If you say you can you need to step up. I am with the PCC and I am working for Asiwaju I am also with CGI which is connecting grassroots initiatives that were started by MC Oluomo and what we are doing is going door to door.
Normally I don’t share my politics and what I believe on social media but because of the way people are attacking others I said no, we won’t be bullied, every Nigerian has the right to make a choice.
