PRINCESS
Bukola Adeteju Agunlejika is a multi-talented filmmaker. She is an actress and
producer. She produces and supplies content to TV stations. The native of Osun
State has been in the movie industry for 30 years. She has acted in and
produced quite a number of movies. She recently shot 3 movies at a time;
‘Somori Ologi’, ‘Igbehin Adun’ and ‘Drowning Soul’. Drowning Soul is 90 per cent English and just 10 per cent Yoruba. Come August 7, 2022, these movies would be
premiered at the Presken Hotel in Shonibare Estate, Maryland, Lagos.
Recently,
Princess Teju had an interview with City People Publisher, Seye Kehinde and his
reporter, Jamiu Abubakar. She spoke about her formative years in the industry
and why she chose to release 3 movies this time around. Read and enjoy!
Why
did you decide to produce 3 movies at a time?
I
just feel like doing things differently. These days, you just want something
different and so I decided to tweak it a little.
How
challenging is working on 3 movies at a time?
It
is not easy; finances, crowd, crew issues, artist issues, time, location and
all that but to God be the glory, everything worked out.
Tell
us how you acquired your acting and production skills.
I
started with acting first. I joined the industry in 1992 as an apprentice. Late
Bolaji Salami (Lukuluku Bantashi) was my boss then. I joined them at Meiran.
Through him, I started learning this acting thing. After I graduated from him,
in 1994, I joined another boss, the late Yemi Shomoye, we call him “Mesh”. He
then advised me that if you want to be more successful, you have to learn more.
He now taught me how to produce; he taught me how to do make-up, and how to direct.
He even taught me how to edit. Then we used video-to-video. I told him I can’t
cope with that because it requires a lot of sitting. I said, "Oga, let me
manage the make-up and the PM thing, that is the Production Manager." I
then followed him around a lot. He was the one who handled most of Professor
Peller’s films. I was always part of the crew and at times, I acted too, maybe
two scenes. But then, I was focused on production. Since then, I have mastered
the skill of producing and acting. And since then I have been producing my
movies.
Tell
us about your first movie?
My
first movie was ‘Akowe’ and it came out in 1994.
How
many movies have you done?
’Akowe’, ‘Idarijin’, ‘Komalobe’, ‘Obi Meji’,
‘Ayesebotan’, ‘Gbonka’, ‘Osa Idile’, ‘Fikayomi’ and after all these, I came up
with the 3 movies which are set to be premiered.
How
easy has it been producing movies?
In
the 90s and early 2000s, when you produce one movie, you are okay, unless you
want to be selfish. The only avenue to market your movies then was Idumota. But,
if you have a good marketer, with that one movie, you can make your money. The movie business is somehow now, you have to keep doing and doing to meet up. I
don’t like going from one location to the other. I prefer doing my movie alone unless you are close to me. This is because I do other things; I’m into
teaching. So combining acting with teaching is not easy. I supply content too.
I’m a very busy person. I’m always on the road. With all that I do, to now go
and sit down at a location is a no for me.
How will you compare production now with how
it was back then?
I
won’t lie to you, we enjoyed the production then. Under the boss I was working
with then, any location you go to, I get lots of money. I told you I do a crew
job, I got paid for that. I also received my acting money. So whenever you are
going home, you will laugh. If I travel for one week or two weeks, when I’m
coming home, I know what I have in my pocket. But these days, we have to help
one another. We all know what is happening in the industry. There are some
actors you can’t do that to. If you call them, they will bill you. If I know
you can’t assist me, why will I assist you? So that’s why I stay on my own. But
now, let’s say technology has taken over everything. It makes things look
somehow. As of then, if you want to produce with the little you have, you will
still come out with a good movie. But these days, if you say you have a little,
you shouldn’t even bother producing. Just put your movies online. If you say you want to produce now, you have
to do it big. Despite doing it big, you still have to pray to God for His
grace. But because acting is in the
blood, if you don’t do it, you will feel like you are missing something or
something is missing in your body.
Tell
us a bit about your formative years. Where were you born and where did you grow
up?
I
was born in Lagos at number 4 Abbey Street, Bode-Thomas, Onipanu. I went to
Agunbiade Primary School, on the other side of Somolu. Later I proceeded to
Nigerian Model High School at Idi-Oro. I went to Kwara Poly where I studied
Public Relations, I came back to Lagos to attend the Lagos Poly. Back then in
Kwara Poly, I was doing this movie thing. It stayed in my head. It did not make
me concentrate on my studies. When I came home, my mum insisted that I won’t go
into acting. She said, "acting is meant for the wayward, no responsible
person goes into acting and you won’t become the black sheep of the
family". She said all my siblings have good degrees. I was insisting on
acting. But I told her it’s my life and I have not come to live another
person’s life. Please let me follow my passion. But my dad was very nice and
cool. He likes what I’m doing. Even when I started producing, he would take my
movies to his friends and tell them; to come and see and buy, it’s my daughter
that produced them. But my mum is a deaconess so she said no.
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