Concept Production in Collaboration with RR Business Services presents Osage Igbhodaro Ajibade (Mena), Kahinde Bankole (Kemi), Kunle Remi (Gboyega), Femi Adebayo (Dotun), Opeyemi Aiyeola Owolomonse (Ronke), Shaffey Bello (Mama Adelana), Adenola Adelana (Seyi Adelana). Screenplay, Diche Enunwa, Temitope Bolade Akinbode; Story, Bimbo Akinbode; Executive Producers, Diche Enunwa, Temitope Bolade Akinbode, Omoh Onionmoba; Cinematographer, Pindem Lot, © 2020
I came from the bushes of Nollywood. And my experiences were all about a man hiring a friend to stand in for him in A Way Back Home. He wants to prove to his wife that his face is crushed in a wreck and that the new look is him. Then in another film, Therapy, with a respectable actor, RMD, his wife is abused and molested to have a baby since he can’t have one. Really? I had enough of it, so I crossed the street to another studio in the same Nollywood. Luckily, Writers’ Inc. Concept Production in Collaboration with RR Business Services presents me with the most beautifully structured melodrama from Nollywood.
I have seen this kind of movie before. Late Muna Obiekwe (Mike), may God bless his soul, acted with Tonto Dikeh (Ifeoma) in Beyond Secret. Ifeoma and her husband had all the money in the world except a child. And Raymond’s mother won’t wait for one. The pressure was so much on the couple they had to do the unorthodox. The couple hired Mike, a young and virile clerk in their company, for money, of course, to mate with Ifeoma. The funny and unbelievable part of Raymond’s presence is Mike having sex with Ifeoma. To Raymond, Mike can have sex with his wife like any other job, with no romance. The event begot a daughter. Raymond’s Mama ((Christie Okonkwo) wasn’t happy unless the couple gave her a boy. Mike was cash strapped and wanted more money. The deal became blackmail. In the end, the couple offered back Mike’s daughter in return for the money paid to him. He refused to take the child.
Mama Drama is less about Mama Adelana (Shaffey Bello) than her grandson, Seyi Adelana (Adenola Adelana), and the two mamas in his life. Seyi turns out to be a precious jewel for the childless Adelana couple. The couple hires Kemi (Kehinde Bankole) to carry their sperm as a surrogate mother to have a child. God blessed them with a boy. The Adelana couple leaves Kemi and her husband with lots of money and flies to the States. Kemi lost the only son she has, and her soldier husband dies on the front in Niger Delta. When the Adelana family comes back to town after even years, Kemi sues to claim Seyi.
There is a confrontation scene in Mama Drama that was absent in Beyond Secret. Ifeoma never stood up to her mother-in-law. In Mama Drama, the moment of truth hits her when she learns about the legal fight for Seyi in court and questions Gboyega about it in the presence of Ronke (Opeyemi Aiyeola Owolomonse). Mena walks upon them. In the same scene, Mama Drama comes face to face with the truth of the world around her.
Gboyega, “What exactly is the problem now?”
Mama Drama, “I heard that Seyi is a bastard.”
Gboyega, “Where did you hear that?”
Mama Drama, “I’m doomed. Ronke, is it true, and you didn’t tell me? That boy doesn’t have our nose.”
Gboyega, “Seyi is my son.”
Mama Drama, “What, son? Did I not warn you, Gboyega? I told you not to marry this old barren!”
Mena, “Enough! It’s enough, no more insult. I have taken your insult for so long.”
Mama Drama turns to Ronke:
“Didn’t you give birth to twin, who is running after you to take those children from you? Tell me!”
Ronke, “I have a surrogate!”
Mama Drama, “What!?”
Ronke, “Yes. The boys. My twins. I had them through surrogacy!”
Mama Drama (unbelievable and surprised), “The twins?”
From this point on, the story takes legal and moral dimensions. When Mama Adelana should know that Mena (Osae Igbhodaro Ajibade) didn’t have a natural birth, she reverted to her former hatred of her daughter-in-law. With her solid Christian belief, surrogacy is not recommended. She will prefer her son to marry a younger woman even as the couple is two years apart. After the condemnation of Mena, Mama Adelana learns that her younger sister, too, had had a surrogate mother when she got the adorable twins. It is easy for her to understand that the birth of a child now extends beyond natural. It can be contracted out and has become readily accepted even in the stringent Yoruba and Nigerian culture.
Diche Anunwa’s screenplay takes us on a melodramatic journey. It raises our hopes for the Adelana family at some point but deflated them at other turns in the road. Adelana couple spent much and invested so much. There is a new house for Kemi and her husband, twenty-five million nairas in cash for her to carry their baby. And now their claim over him is in the balance. Mena, sensing that the law would take Seyi from them, decides to elope with Seyi back to the United States. But her husband, feeling a crazy move, stops her at the airport. While some viewers root for her, her husband dismisses her effort as an illegal move.
A scene stands out in Mama Drama that surpasses Beyond Secret. Gboyega learns firsthand in court his wife had the urge to commit suicide. The dialogue is riveting, tear-jerking between the couple honestly in love in the next bedroom scene.
Gboyega, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Mena, “ Tell you what?”
“About attempting suicide.”
“… it wasn’t that easy. Your mum calling me names, Aunty Ekem giving me one concoction after another, social media, the pressures, the whispers….”
Mena overheard a conversation Mama Drama had with her son Gboyega:
Mama Drama, “My son, what’s the matter? Where’s your wife?”
Gboyega, “Upstairs.”
“What’s the problem?”
“Why do I feel so helpless?”
“My son, you are not helpless. You’re a complete man. If you hit a woman once, she’ll be knocked out, trust me. She’ll get pregnant…Go outside, try a woman…I will find a young girl for you. Let me tell you what the problem is, that your wife upstairs, eh, she’s old.”
Gboyega, “She’s just three years old.”
“What’s the difference? Ten years, three years, she’s older.”
Mena had thought of suicide when Mama Drama told her son to go out and look for a younger wife.
“Gboyega, “ We’re in this together. It is not you against me; it’s not me against you. It’s both of us against the world. And no one, no one is allowed to leave.”
Like every melodrama, the screenwriter, Diche Enunwa, messed with our emotions once more when rejoicing in the beautiful court ruling in favor of the Adelana family, Seyi Adelana passed out. And was rushed to the hospital. He is afflicted with kidney disease. Seyi’s biological mother, Kemi, donates her kidney. All’s well that ends well.