Jaiye Kuti has appeared in so many films since she began her enviable career in 2002 after appearing in a television sitcom, ‘Laff Patterns.’ She’s one of the carefully selected crossover actresses who are spotted in films with both English and Yoruba as the language of communication. Recently, she joined the big league when she produced and featured in a cinema film entitled ‘Alagbede.’ THE NATION’s ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, GBENGA BADA, caught up with her and she opened up on a variety of issues and concerns ranging from her new film, marriage to her children, work, and life experiences as an actress.
I saw Alagbede and I know that it’s not a small production. What was the motivation to invest so much funds in it?
You know in life, after which you have done one thing, you know, many times, you just want to improve. And when you have this business mind, you, well, let me speak for me. I see a lot of things around me as business, including what I do, including the brands that I endorse their products. I look at them from business angles. So, in my line of production and producing many movies, I’ve known that one day, a time will come, when an opportunity will be open for a proper business for me because as a business person, you should be ready to take the risks. The risk is what makes you better than the other person because if you’re not ready to go as far as taking the risk, then it means that you’ll just be in one place, going round in circles and that’s it. And you cannot go past that level. I want to grow, I want to keep growing and I don’t want to stop. And that’s why I see Alagbede as a business for me.
So, do you think the risk was worth it?
Yes, the risk is worth it in many ways. I had the vision during COVID-19 when I was telling different stories on my Instagram page, you know. I would just come up with some stories. That was when I came up with that idea. I heard of a guy who wanted to commit suicide, I think it was a radio programme or something. So from what they were deliberating, all, I got something from there and I thought to myself like, okay, I won’t tell people this as a story. I think I have to make this a proper film. I have to shoot this, a proper movie and take it to the cinema. And that was how I came up with The Blacksmith: Alagbede.
So why cinema? I mean, I know you’ve done a couple of productions by yourself and didn’t make it to the cinema, why cinema this time? Why not YouTube?
Yes, I looked at the amount of money that would go into it. And I know that it cannot be N5 million or N10 million. I knew that 45 million naira would not do it. If you have to use the proper actor, you have to use the proper setting, the community, the area, the costume, everything. If you want to tell the story exactly the way you have seen it, and you want people to feel it, the creation of your vision, you know, it just has to go to the cinema. So by doing so a lot of people will get to go and see it. I was ready for whatever it took to make the money back, you know, but I wasn’t going to look at whether the money was too much or probably not going to make it back. I want to tell a story and whatever it takes for me to tell the story, I want to. And I know that YouTube is not going to give me the money back. I’m talking about 1 year, 2 years, 3 years. It might be there, and it could give me the money later on, but it’s something that I want to do now because I have other projects that I want to do that I have at hand. So that was why I decided to take it to cinemas.
Okay, we’ve heard some of your colleagues saying they had to sell off properties, cars, to get funds, and all that. For you and considering the current economic situation, how did you harness the funds?
I know, the situation could be quite difficult, but I don’t have to sell anything because I have been preparing for this for a while. I have been a brand ambassador to a lot of brands that gave me nothing less than N20 million, and N25 million, there were some projects, and documentaries, that I did that fetched me N30 million. I knew that I had some things to do in the future; I had a big movie ahead of me. By then, I had not even had a story, but I knew that there was going to be something. And I’m married to a man that I would call prudent, my husband is a very prudent person. So, he believes a lot in savings. And then we cultivated the idea from him to save money. You know, you take out what you need, not necessarily everything that you want, so I’ve been able to save. And it got to a point that I needed to build a house for my mom. So I had to dip my hands into the savings and I wanted to do something for her. I wanted to appreciate her because my mom is the reason why I’ve been able to do this. She’s been there for my children, from when I started to have children. So I built a house for her. So the money I was left with was like N55 million in that account and I knew that, okay, it’s time for me to do this movie. So I called my friend because I have two other partners and a friend, a sister, a younger sister, Motunrayo. I said, Motunrayo, how much do you have in your hand too? I want to produce this fine movie and I don’t think I have enough. She said okay, how much do you need? I said if I can get like N20 million from you, she said, okay, give me two weeks. I said okay, that’s fine. So before then, she raised the money like two times, 10, 10. So we had 75 million. I said that’s very good. I got an endorsement deal, and at that time, Twins Faja Nigeria Limited signed me again. They paid me 10 million. So the money was growing. And I called my other partner, Mr. Adeleye Fabusoro, how much do you have in your bank account for a film? I asked for like N10 or N15 million to continue this project, to do what I wanted to do. He said, okay, I can only borrow you. Borrow, borrow, borrow. So he was saying the borrow like two, three, four times. I said, okay, don’t worry. So that was how I was able to put this money together. And so far, so good. Every one of them has been part of this great support to sell the movie. In three weeks of premiering in the cinema, we were able to gross N60 million, above 60 million. We’re not doing badly. People love the movie. The movie speaks for itself. And I’m glad, I’m so glad that it’s going the way I envisaged.
So I know you mentioned your husband earlier
Yes, please.
Not everybody gets to see your other half, but with the little you said, you spoke quite fondly of him. Tell us about your husband.
Ah, Mr. Kuti. Mr. Kuti is an Ijebu man. We’ve been married since the year 2000. I had my first child, Mayowa, in 2001. And when I was going to come into the industry, I told my husband and I was like, well, I was done with the paid employment. I said I can’t do all this paid employment anymore. Maybe you set me up or something. Then he asked, okay, is there not something that you would like to do or love to do by yourself? And I said, I wanted to go into acting, but you would not want me because you would say I’m married. He said, hey, now you’re talking about your destiny. So you should go and find a way, you know, to start doing it. So I went for an audition. I got a script. And then, of course, my baby was, my Mayowa was still little. So I needed somebody to take care of her for me. So my husband was supporting me in that area. So, from that time, I’ve been getting that support. The only thing my husband would say is that, don’t spoil my name. So you have to be careful with what you do, where you go, how you deal with people. And he has never complained about me having to kiss anyone on set. Sometimes he will advise that clearly, you people would just be kissing like local people. Can’t you people kiss in the way that we feel the love and all that, that you’d be kissing and be doing like this? When it comes to your point to, I mean, your part to kiss, please, can you just do it properly? I said, okay, no problem. Unfortunately for him, I’ve not really gotten a role like that.
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Well, I thought I read somewhere that you say you can’t kiss in movies.
I said I can’t kiss wet kisses, like dipping my tongue into the other person. But of course, I do a lot of romance. You know, you don’t have to kiss to feel that love. I can look at you and you will know the language of love. You will feel me even looking at you. So it doesn’t really have to be that deep kisses.
You are one of the actresses, who came into the industry as a married woman already, yet you have several male and female fans. I know there are male fans who see you as a crush or some who want a relationship with you despite knowing you are married, how have you been able to manage that?
Yes. I just managed it. I don’t tell anybody no. No matter how much you say you love me or not, I would be thinking about it. No, I would just play along like, okay, and say thank you so much. Okay. And I’ll keep talking to you like, I’m with you until you get it by yourself that I’m not just with you. And then some will get frustrated. Stop talking to me. Some would insult me back and say, why was I wasting their time? They say all sorts of things. And I would respond that didn’t I tell you I was married with children? And yet you still want me in your life, as what? So you want to waste my time? I know how to waste time too, you know? So let’s get on with it. So some of them get frustrated and some of them are still there in the last 10 years. Some of them are still standing, like even when you get old, we dey here.
Do you share those things with your husband?
Oh, yes. My husband shares his own too with me. So we share a lot of that. But sometimes I show him my messages. Come and see, come and see the people that want to buy me off. You understand? My husband would come to me like, to ba ri idi to mo ri leni, if you see the lady, she’s all that, you know, so we share things like that. You know, it helps us not to have these conflicts in marriage. My dad, I would say, was a comedian and he has taught me a lot of things that work in marriage, including my mother. And one of it is jokes, comedy and all of that. So I do, I invest a lot of that into my marriage. You know, even when I’m angry, even when my husband, gets on my nerves, sometimes he comes up with stuff like (sings) ‘Baby mi jowo je ka jo mi a gbadun’, that is, he has done something very, very annoying that, you know, so it’s not that it’s bed of roses. We have our ups and downs. Like I look up to him, like I just look at him and feel like, what am I doing in your life gan gan? What am I doing here? So I’ve said to my husband, like Ogbeni, I can leave you today. We get to a point of like, you just want to go back to your parents’ house. But we have to understand that this is marriage. It is not promised to be good all the time. So this is the worst of it. So let’s manage the situation. So we manage the situation.
Okay, so back to Alagbede, you had quite a number of popular faces, who played vital roles for the overall success of the movie. What was the casting like, and were you particularly involved in the casting?
Yes, I saw the actors, even while I was writing the script though I had to get another script writer because I’m not very good at writing, you know, but I can write the stories like in one scene, second scene. And so I saw the characters and how I wanted them to play it out. And I saw me too, as Yaja, the gossip, you know, because in every local house, there’s somebody who’s always telling somebody that, o ri ara ile e, him don dey go again, there’s always characters like that. So I brought out a character, you know, in every community, every area, every situation; we have all those characters, all the characters. So I had to bring them into the movie when I was writing. So I saw their faces and I was writing with their attitude.
Your son is growing up now. Your first son is Mayowa.
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Yes, Mayowa Kuti.
He’s about 20 if I’m right?
He’s now 23, going to 24, yeah. 23, yeah.
Has there been any incident in those years, maybe when he was in school, that he came home to ask about one role you played that people are talking about?
Not really. It was just a complaint that any time my friends want to check you out on Google, they’ll just be seeing you and Pasuma, it’s Pasuma. They will now be asking, is Pasuma your daddy? Because we are always seeing your mom and Pasuma together. So it took a lot of time to explain that, no, it was a movie. It was the headline, just read the body of the news, because you know, sometimes we just want to say something catchy, you know, to get people to read the story. So that is what people see. And some of them don’t even read the body of the story. They just conclude that Ah, o ti fe Paso, so that was the only problem that he dealt with, like in the first and second year. Then in the third year, I believe that he was able to have some escape routes like me, you know, because I know a lot of people who fought and say, we had children together and they will start to fight one another over my own story, you know, so that was the only thing that bothered him for like two years.
Can you share a memorable moment or achievement, you know, from the making of ‘Alagbede’?
Yeah. Um, well, then, well, the finance is usually the problem of big movies, the money, putting the money together, and then getting your actors to be on set to do what they’re supposed to do. I was only lucky with experienced actors who understand the risk, who understand where the money is coming from, who understand where they’re going, who understand the script, and the story, and who are ready and loving to play it out. So I was lucky to work with such people. I was lucky again to work with a very wonderful director, Usman Olarotimi Blackky Ogunlade. When I saw him on a set, I knew that there was something about this guy and I told him that you’re going to direct my next movie and yeah, it was quite challenging, but then we were able to manage it.
So one thing, just tell us one thing, fame, or stardom has deprived you of?
Um, I’m not sure. Is there anything I’ve been deprived of? I’m not sure. I don’t know.
Some would say I can’t walk on the streets anymore like I would want to, others would say I can’t just stop by and buy my favourite meal…
Well, well, that one is a natural thing that happens to us. Yes. It has deprived me of going to the market. Yes. You know, pricing snails. My husband loves snails, so you can’t go to the market because the moment they see you, they are like, thank God and even if it is N5,000, they will call it N25,000 for you, you know. So because of that, it has deprived me of going into the market to buy stuff myself. Like I would want to do the shopping myself personally, but I can’t.
Has it also opened doors you would never have been able to open?
Yes, a lot. Even my husband would use it anywhere and say, I am Jaiye Kuti’s husband. So, and he’s been getting a lot of, what do I call it? Like he got to the bank and he said there was a long queue and he just spoke to someone and said, I am Jaiye Kuti’s husband, Jaiye Kuti sent me here and then they took my husband all the way to the front to go and attend to him. So we have a lot of privileges like that. I have people giving me gifts. It has opened doors to many brands for me to be the ambassador, to influence social media for them. I’ve travelled far and wide because of this job that I do and I’m still on it because the bigger one is coming. I’m writing the script already.
As an established act, what do you think a young girl who is coming into the industry needs to do?
You have to be ready. There’s something that is called the demon of acting. So this demon of a thing has to come more like a sacrifice that we don’t do. It’s just like music. There’s a way I will sing and people will just say the music is very catchy. You know, it could make you cry. It could make you laugh. It could make you relax, the same thing with movies as well. So you have to be ready to accept it like a spirit. You have to be ready to take it in, you know because it is taking it in, accepting it like it’s spiritual. That is when you start to give it out, you know, and then people are seeing what you are giving. But once you are not ready, or you just want to just be like, okay, I just want to ask somebody’s wife. No, it doesn’t work like that. It is a spirit that you have to let go really deep down in you. You have to leave that world you are used to, like you are changing to another person entirely. I don’t know how the spirit jumps in. It jumps in one way or the other, and then you become something else. You can start to cry almost immediately. You become something else. And then the moment you hear cut the spirit departs again, you know, so you have to be ready for that spirit. I don’t know what to call it.
Will you allow your child to toe this line considering the challenges and more?
Yes, definitely. He loves it. When he said he was going to go study law and all that, then he said, look, after that, Mummy, I’m going to become an actor. But I know that, well, you can say something today and then tomorrow you’re changing. So he’s not even talking to me about being an actor again. He’s talking about business. He’s talking about law this and law that. So he’s talking in another version of ways. But if he wants to do it, that’s what he wants to do. I won’t stop my children. So it means that you have an assignment and I want you to take it out. You know, I know what I’ve achieved with this. So I won’t stop any of my children from achieving the same thing.
I’d like to know, what is the worst fallacy you’ve ever heard about your person?
It’s for people to say that you are dating them when you are not dating them. For some people that you have not seen in your entire life, you say that ah, emi ati Jaiye Kuti, a jo wa lana ni (me and Jaiye Kuti, we were together yesterday). You know, I don’t know what to call that. And then for people to say things about you and then you wonder, could that be me? And you’re wondering. I mean, you know, such things like that. But you know, like my people will say, eni to ma ga, ese e a gun, you know, so it’s part of what you have to, you have to see. It’s going to come to you if you want to be big. So we just accept it, smile over it and then we’ll go away.
But does it weigh you down?
It doesn’t. Hardly will anything weigh me down. I don’t know. A lot of things have weighed me down way back, but these days I’m standing strong. But God forbid some other things in life, but then I’m a very strong person when it comes to heart.
