Hey Dad

Love Story Media present Majid Michel (Kenneth), Stan Nze (Jermaine), Angel Unigwe (Wilma), Blessing Obasi-Nze, Afolabi Laoye (Fred), Eucharia Okoye (Agatha). Writer, Adaezi Ibechukwu; Cinematographer, Oluwamayowa Lawrence (Dr. Lizzy); Associate Producer, Oluwamayowa Lawrence; Producer, Stan Nze; Executive Producers, Stan Nze/Blessing Obasi-Nze; Director, Iyke Osoko. © 2025.

Me and Majid Michel have come a long way. Him in show business; me in reviewing business.  A relationship like a nosy neighbor watching a wayward next door wanton kid. A long way I say, since Guilty Pleasures (2009). I commented on his earlier days acting, with the beard and all, like a Spanish portrait artist in Who Loves Me (2009); and in Bursting Out (2010), pp. 205-206 Nollywood Movie Review Vol 1, when he delivered the most memorable and notable Nollywood lines: “I will never forget…I’m tired of trying to live to everyone’s expectation…”. There was not a single strand of gray in his jet-black hair then. He was young, rough, brutal, rugged, and carefree. Imagine how time flies, seeing Stan Nze playing a son-like character here in Hey Dad, to Majid. Michel has grown into the age in show business when scripts sparsely end up on his desk nowadays, like shifting a grain from the chaffs. We all become fathers and at one-point, challenging roles in films aren’t frequent. I miss Michel’s youthful antics–badass, I nicknamed him–and his mischievous cackles as in laughter. Here he is playing fatherly, elderly.

Majid is completing a full circle. He has reached an age when most of us face broken hearts and unfulfilled promises in silence. It can be this man with convulsive bout with coughing, or incontinent urination or defecation in his pants before reaching a six feet-away commode, leaving the scene with drippings of urine or blood. These are issues that we face privately, without sharing with our loved ones.  We don’t want to show weakness in the once strongmen praise our loved ones heaped on us. Yet time is crouching upon us every day, and we want to make do for the lost time. Mr. Kenneth –Kay for short– (Majid Michel) in Hey Dad, is desperate to make do the lost time with his eighteen-year-old daughter, before time takes him away. “The clock is ticking. The clock is ticking, Jermaine.” With fear in his eyes.

Wilma’s (Angel Unigwe) stepdad, Richard (Afolabi Laoye) had manhandled her from the van, when she said, “You can take the horse to the river, but you can’t force her to drink.” Richard had had enough of her stubbornness; put her on his shoulder and brought her in. Dad, Kenneth, and daughter, Wilma met for the first time after eighteen years. Two strangers stand awkwardly, staring at each other. Dad looks panicked and unsure of what Wilma wants but shyly suggests what’s available to eat.  Wilma’s rosy cheeks and ears are brimming, fuming with anger and hate: she wants to go back home to mummy.

To strike a balance between these strategically placed opposite each other, writer Adaezi Ibechukwu inserts Jermaine as a fulcrum between dad and daughter. Mr. Kay greatly relies on Jermaine to rein in his daughter, but he should be delicate as he doesn’t want to drive her away for the last time. Jermaine had wandered into the house of Mr. Kay when no one could rent him a place to stay, and Mr. Kay had done so generously, for practically nothing. For four years their relationship has grown into a family. Jermaine has played the role of a son and practically knows Mr. Kays medical condition. With the help of Jermaine, Wilma gradually comes around to understanding her dad.

If Majid had been recognized on the Nollywood Walk of Fame, for his performance in Bursting Out, the one scene in Hey Dad where he addresses his daughter while both examining her childhood photos that he has kept for many years, would be considered exemplary.  A tear-provoking scene, which personally reminds me of me and my daughter’s present relationship:

Dad, “I became a drug addict. I was a junkie. I became a chronic alcoholic…everybody abandoned me. My family, My friends. Everyone I once loved abandoned me. But your mum didn’t. Your mum was with me all through. She never looked back…. I was in and out of rehab. I promised never to go back there. But it wasn’t easy. One time with a withdrawal syndrome, I needed a drug so bad. I tried to take the Tv out of the house to sell it. And she came in the way. And I pulled up a knife to stab her. It was the point I realized I was a danger, a threat to you and her.

God, how dearly we (men) love the daughters. Tears streamed down both dad and daughter’s cheeks, and they hugged.   

(beat) “You see this face? I don’t want you to ever forget it…I don’t want you to ever forget this moment we are spending together.” (swallowing hard between weeps) “Do you promise?”

Shortly after this scene, Mr. Kay experiences a relapse, leading those around him, including yourself, and me to believe he was bestowing his final wish upon his daughter, before he dies. He was placed on a machine at the hospital. Although he later survived the relapse, Wilma compassionately wheeled him around the hospital’s green grounds.   

A notable feature during the broadcast of Hey Dad is the regular advertisement addressing opioid addiction.  What an appropriate advertising placement! Come to think of it, Hey Dad is a story about the devastations drug addiction causes in the life of a man. Every few minutes, this advert comes on like either a backdrop to the story or like a dramatic fourth wall to Mr. Kay’s infliction, acting as a sort of sense of realism and immersion in the fictional world. For instance, immediately after the Opioid advert, Mr. Kay on the screen falls into a relapse; dizzy spell, and a sharp stabbing pain torments him, and he crawls on his belly, gets a mouthful of pills from the drawer, followed by a gulpful of water before he could pick himself up to join his daughter and Jermaine at the beach.

Given the typical structure of Nollywood movies, Hey Dad stands out. It leaves behind a trail of tears that I kept wiping off my weeping face. This is what in literature we call a human story. It encompasses the universal experiences, emotions and complexities of human existence. What more will I say. Hey Dad, is shouting out to all men whose relationship with daughters went sour and are ready to make it up to them. I’m in. Are you?  Watch Hey Dad! Yes, I have to add exclamation mark to the title because it is like shouting out to all dads.