By David Ajiboye

“…you have to pass through darkness to get to dawn”, Mike Ezuruonye.

Top Nollywood actor , Mike Ezuruonye, reveals in this chat with David Ajiboye, for africanmoviestar.com, why he’s a reserved person and why he keeps to himself. Excerpts:

Is acting all you wanted to do at the beginning?

Let us just say acting chose me. While growing up, I’ve been involved in acting one way or the other. But professionally I was dragged into it by Ruke Amata.

Which was your first movie and which year was that?

Funny enough, my first movie hasn’t seen the light of the day. The film was shot in 2005. The movies that took me into peoples’ consciousness are Broken Marriage and Critical Decision.

How does it feel to go through so much stress all in the name of acting?

Though tiring, it is fulfilling. The demand is quite much but we have to keep doing what we know how to do best.

I’m sure the money you’re making is worth your while?

I don’t know about that, but we thank God for everything.

Is it true you’re making lots of money?

Let me just say I can afford to pay certain bills and attend to some needs.

Recently you were in America for a tour..?

(Cuts in) I was there, but not for the tour. I didn’t go for it because I had a certain disagreement with their contract. The conditions were not right.

How does it feel when fans are all over you when you go out of the country?

Trust me; the love we get out of the country is great and enormous. It is so large. But to me, it means people are watching me and I have to improve on what I’m doing.

An A-list actor said you have displaced Ramsey Nouah Jr ?

I am not going to say I’ve displaced anybody. Let’s not forget that Ramsey is one actor you cannot disrespect at all because whether we like it or not, as a result of Ramsey, we have a lot of young men in the industry today. Everybody has her own talent, so nobody can displace anybody and, I have respect for Ramsey any day any time. He is one of the greatest actors Nollywood has ever produced.

I heard that lots of women are finding abode under your tent?

If you see women around me, It’s just that they appreciate my work. I’m only building my tent in Nollywood where I express my craft with passion.

Are there women who want to go the extra mile for you?

I don’t know about that. All I know is that when people appreciate my works, I thank them in return.

Do you appreciate them in cash or in kind?

You are getting me wrong. I don’t appreciate them in cash or in kind. It’s just an act of goodwill, a smile, and thank you very much.

Has being on tv changed your life?

Most definitely. It has it’s merits and demerits. Demerit in the sense that your privacy is taken away from you. Some people are out to see you make a wrong move, while some are out to crash your image without any reason. The merit is that doors open up for you here and abroad. People welcome you to their homes, you are given a lot of pleasure and people are happy. To me that is very fulfilling.

I learnt that the Ghanians are taking over the market because the marketers want to use them as market leverage in Ghana, how true is that?

We should be our brothers keeper. If there is any alliance, it is okay but the people who run the industry should know how to balance the equation.

Are you feeling the pinch like other actors?

I don’t want to sound selfish, but I’ll like to thank God.

How many movies do you do in a month?

When you get to a level, you have to be very careful. I do a lot of screening regarding the script I take, and that is why I don’t think I do more than two movies in a month.

You’ve been accused of many things and one of them is that you kiss passionately on set, what do you say to that?

This is the first time I’m hearing that. I just do my things and get out of there.

Which actress do you enjoy working with most?

I have a working relationship with every actress, both the upcoming and the stars. My motto is to be as natural as possible. If you want me to be friendly, I will be friendly and If you want me to be harsh, I will be harsh and you will forget that you are watching a movie.

I read something about you taking a girl abroad and dumping her?

I told you earlier that some people want to scratch your image. Why will I need to borrow from somebody? My father used to tell me that a borrower would go a sorrowing. I can afford to buy certain amenities with what I do. I never borrowed from any girl, it is so unfounded.

Why do you think such allegation was made against you?

I told you that people just want to scratch your image.

Have you had any fan that has gone to the extreme with her emotions or her anger with you?

That happens all the time. One of such is an experience I had sometime ago when I was outside the country. Some group of fans worked up to me, I think they’re from Aruba, in the Caribbean and they were so crazy, the madness was too much and my cloth got torn and I had to buy another shirt at the mall.

Which of your movies has been the most memorable.?

Lots of them, I can’t pick anyone now, I just put my best in all I do.

Who is the lucky woman in your life?

She doesn’t want to be made public now. By God’s grace, If we get married, you’ll know her. But I’m into relationship.

How many times Have you fallen in love?

No comment.

How many frogs Have you kissed before meeting your princess?

(Laughs) I’ve not. I guess I don’t like talking about my relationships. Let’s put it this way, you have to pass through darkness to get to dawn.

What is it that you look for in a woman?

She has to be God-fearing because He is the reason why I’m here today. He has put me on this pedestal and she must have a good character and be down-to-earth. Those are the basic qualities. She also has to be beautiful.

Is Mike a heart breaker?

I don’t consider myself a heart breaker.

How do you end a relationship that you feel cannot work?

Relationship start with two people, it is a mutual agreement. And If it should end, it should be mutual.

When is Mike getting married and what does love means to you?

When that time comes, you will know. Love is a feeling where you float in happiness and joy and you don’t feel any hurt.

Director Emeka H. Umeasor, takes  a close and personal look at Sins of Rachael. You can find it so in the composition of the shots as they interpret on screen.  The  excessive use of extreme close-ups, and medium close-ups bring even viewers closer to the events and characters on screen. Beautiful shots befitting beautiful story.

Screenwriter Andy Nwakalor weaves a beautiful drama here too for our viewing pleasure. He tells the story of Rachael (Joy Torty), a fountainhead character and a straight faced born-again christian believer, whose father, Chief Nnaji (Jim Lawson Madweke) for his own political ambitions, wants her marry Christopher (Akume Akume). Rachael in turn is in love with a choir boy Sunday (Mike Ezuruonye), from her church. Yet, in obedience to the word of the bible, as thus, “obey thy father’, she asks her suitor Christopher if he could find a place in his heart for Christ in exchange for politics.

Christopher is a born, bred, groomed, nurtured, tutored, carved, and schooled politician (a politician with manaical disposition, though) finds Rachael’s ultimatum impossible. His father could even skin him alive for joining the church. Both Sunday and Christopher jostle for Rachael’s hand in marriage anyway, until Rachael on her way from church choir practice, is raped by Steve (Emeka Ike, the devil worshipper who brutally murders his mother in the Warriors of Satan) and conceives thereon. The story goes into turbo gear.

The household of Chief Nnaji is in disarray by this incident. Rachael’s pregnancy will sure ruin his politics and therefore wants abortion, or she and her mother should leave his household. Both Christopher and Sunday go ballistic in their different ways: Christopher couldn’t stand the thought of that THING  in  Rachael’s stomach. Sunday calls Rachael’s unborn child, ‘bastard’, and doesn’t want to have anything to do with it. Rachael in the middle of this rigmarole, is playing it by the will of God, but no abortion. Her Character, except for frequent outburst in cries, is completely flat and anti-radioactive.

The drama takes yet another turn when Rachael runs into her raper, Steve, and confronts him with the truth. Rachael wants confession and acceptance of God for his evils, so she can forgive him. Steve easily accepts Christ alright, but before Rachael could have his child, Christopher murders him. At his bedside, Rachael witnesses Chief Nnaji (her father) accepts Christ. Christopher enters the same scene, a giant-size cross like a burden of sin, hanging on his neck, obviously a born again christian. Sunday repents and marries Rachael after she put to bed her fatherless baby girl.

The biblical Rachael’s sin, if it could be so called, is when she steals her father Leban’s god as she escapes with her husband Jacob, into Israel. But Andy Nwakalor’s Sins of Rachael cries out loud two philosophical thoughts: Good versus evil. Spiritualism versus existentialism. This script is the writer’s uneqivocal take on Nollywood’s obsession with both political and financial aggrandizement, in disregard for fear of God as Rachael portrays.

This side of the Atlantic (America) we call Sins of Rachael, a beautiful testament to Rowe versus Wade (pro-life versus Pro-choice). Simply put.

Ali Baylay/Publisher