By Adedayo Odulaja
Ope Banwo is a prominent legal practitioner in town but he is more known recently as the brain behind Ghetto Dreamz, the Dagrin biopic. Although the waves created by the movie is yet to die down, the man, also the CEO of Stingomania Records, says he is ready to take the game even higher with a biopic focusing on Charles Oputa, better known as the hugely controversial Charly Boy, the ‘Area Fada.’ Banwo told Saturday Independent about what led to his latest move.
“Just like I said that one of the areas I said I would focus on when I decided to go back to making movies, is in the area of making movies that have meanings and lasting values, movies that celebrate our heroes both living and dead and movies that focus on a narrow niche of the movie-making industry which is biographies. Biopic is an area that people have not focused on and the very first one was done by me, Covenant Church when I was with Dove Media and I decided to do another one on DaGrin. Now I am taking the game a little bit higher by doing a series I call Heroes on people not just because they are popular or topical but also because they are people that generate conversation and have contributed something to their generation. When we were shortlisting, we came up with Charly Boy and this we arrived at by polling people ‘If you were to see a biopic of one of your heroes, who would you like to see and surprisingly, Charly Boy topped a lot of names.”
Since news about the new project titled Street Warrior became an open secret, many industry followers have labeled it an idea instigated by the outstanding success of Ghetto Dreamz which was not without its own controversies but Ope Banwo says this is not the case.
“I am not driven into this by the success of Ghetto Dreamz, as a matter of fact, it will surprise people to know the Charly Boy movie has been in the works before Ghetto Dreamz. This is because we had thought about it, talked to him about it and the only thing left was to finalise it because I asked myself if I was ready to go and shoot a movie abroad because part of the Charly Boy movie has to be shot abroad as it cannot be complete without the US end of his life and that part is even more colourful than the Nigerian side. We were discussing that and researching three biopics at the same time including that of Onyeka Onwenu before Ghetto Dreamz came up but it took centre stage as a result of the spontaneity of it. The urgency and immediate relevance of it led me into doing something to meet the first anniversary of his death so that his name would not be forgotten. If we had not done Ghetto Dreamz, DaGrin’s name was already fading because unlike Onyeka Onwenu or Charly Boy, DaGrin did not have a depth of repertoire before he died, you cannot say this is what he did ten years ago or so because his own fame was all about a year and so if we didn’t do it at the time, it is possible the movie would not be relevant at all. He didn’t have any song that is such a classic that people would still be playing in like three years from now maybe with the exception of “Pon Pon Pon” which was the reigning hit and other than “Democracy,” I don’t see any classic he did and which all means three years from now, people may not want to talk about DaGrin.”
Going further, he dismissed the criticism that the movie was rushed, saying it came about with a spontaneity that had to be filled immediately.
“Did you see the movie? If they give me five years, I don’t think we would do it better and it has proved a point by winning awards. No Nigerian movie has been considered, talk less of winning Los Angeles Movie Awards and Ghetto Dreamz won there. It’s also the first Nigerian film to be screened at the Las Vegas Film Festival coming up in August. It is already winning awards and people are talking, they would always say stuff anyway but I have no apologies. A movie that got big stars weeping at the cinemas, you saw KSB who had to be carried out but critics who have to say something would easily say the movie was rushed. Criticisms are okay, they keep us honest and I have no problem with that because even I don’t rate the movie hundred percent but timing is not the issue and Daniel Ademinokan did an awesome job, maybe the pressures made him do a better job than he would have if he was relaxed even.”
Of heroes around especially when it’s not limited to entertainment or showbiz, he sheds light on the choice of the weird and wild Charly Boy.
“Well, it’s a combination of all (his influence, weirdness, controversial nature and more) because he is someone that should be called Mr Biopic as somebody called him and I think I like it. To make a biopic, it is not enough for the person to be an influential figure, not enough to be a hero even; the person has to have enough drama, enough activity in his life to make a movie watchable. If you pick somebody who is influential but does not have a colourful lifestyle or series of events in his life to make the film an interesting one to watch, it is not going to work. So Charly Boy fits the bill of the check list of things to consider to. Has this person made contribution to his generation? Does he have enough drama in his life to make a movie? Is he the kind of guy that people would like to even know more about when he is on screen? And then, is he somebody who is marketable as a product and finally, is he someone who will cooperate in the marketing and promotion of this movie? And on all five grounds, Charly Boy scored very highly and I won’t say it’s due to his controversial nature, most popular and influential people in the world are controversial in one sense or the other but I think it’s just a compelling story.”
To him, many believe Charly is always in the eye of the public but stunning revelations await Nigerians in the movie.
“A lot of people know him yet they don’t know him and from the research I have done so far, I myself have faced revelations upon revelations on Charly Boy. For instance, how many people would know that Charly Boy was married at the age of 15 and that at the age of 21, he had already married four wives? How many know that Charly Boy was like an official juju man for people in his village for years in exchange for money? I am sure many don’t know these three points and there is the part of his life in the US where he travelled to for five years and married four wives there. How many know about the drama surrounding his life in the US or aware of his national conscience thing when he fought for the poor as many consider him a charlatan who was just making noise but I was stunned by the breadth of his achievements. The fight for retired military men who were living on the streets and not given their pensions, the fight against piracy, the first reality show done in Nigeria on the Charly Boy show. The man has done so much that you cannot even tell his story in only one movie and that is why we are doing something very crazy which I told him is about his brand. It will be a trilogy, not a Part 1 - 3 thing but three separate films that take different aspects of Charly Boy because each of the areas is a full story on its own. So Charly Boy is a very compelling figure that people are going to be stunned by the new revelations they are going to see in the movie.
“In Ghetto Dreamz, well some revelations here and there about DaGrin but most people already knew much about the story but people focus more on the radicalism of Charly Boy and do not even know that he has lived two complete lives between the age of 1 and 30. To me, that is even more compelling than his lifestyle as an Okada guy and that is why he was chosen.
“The major thing that stunned me about Charly Boy are these revelations I had no clue about and the movie is still at the research stage and even Ghetto Dreamz was researched for about four months, I did it myself. It would take us about a year to make this movie and we are still talking to critical people in his life, his father, mother, family members, friends and even enemies because we want to make an interesting movie not to glorify Charly Boy but to tell all sides of the story like biopics do.”
On the choice of director for the movie, he revealed that nobody has been earmarked yet but with how pleased he is with his direction of Ghetto Dreamz, Daniel Ademinokan is in the running but he also dropped a line that could create a debate regarding Ademinokan and Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen.
“I don’t think Lancelot would do a better job than Daniel Ademinokan did with that movie. With all due respect to Lancelot, I think Daniel did an awesome job and I don’t see Lancelot doing a better job. Lancelot is a great guy, don’t get me wrong but I am certainly not looking at Lancelot for this one. I am looking at three different people and might still end up with Daniel but it is not on a platter and strangely enough, I want a director grounded in the Igbo culture because a part of the Charly Boy movie will be shot in Igboland. His first two albums are in Igbo and generally, the Igbo influence on his life is so much and it is not an issue of being tribalistic or anything but just that every story has its nuance.”
With the incredible work he put in at RCCG-owned Dove Media which he midwifed to great heights, it is funny many do not know or link Ope Banwo to that and he says it’s deliberate because the past is what it is: the past and he lives for the present.
“I am not a man that lives by past glory and I want to be known for what I am doing now. When I first came back in 1999, when they wanted to introduce me, they would say the former MD of Dove Media but I want to be known for the present and I downplayed that part. Dove Media was huge, I started the company, recruited all the staff, raised the fund and was the CEO for two years but I don’t want to ride on the glory of all of that. Same thing with my private company, Stingomania Records, I discovered DJ Zeez and a lot of people don’t know that. I discovered Konga also and their first albums were released on my label, just like Midnight Crew but I left and came back but what matters to me is not what you have done but can you do it again? That is why I started from the scratch and did not play on my previous name and I am glad at how it has come out.”
The experience might not have ended well but he says he is grateful for the opportunity afforded by that institution.
It is only a bad person that would bite the finger that fed you, I am happy with the Dove Media experience and grateful to the GO of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and all those involved even though there are issues but Dove Media fed me and gave me the privilege of getting into the entertainment industry.
In terms of budget, Ope Banwo, has a heavy war chest peaking at a whopping N50 million naira as the project, entirely funded by him, is likely to go on celluloid even.
“We are looking at 50 million and I don’t want it to go beyond that but I would be happy if we can shoot the movie for N20 million because that would mean I’m sure of what to do to make my money back but when it is 50 million, it is of course more difficult. If you are not very creative and you are not marketing savvy, it might not be easy in this environment but you know the kind of person Charly Boy is, the thing could change and the budget higher and I am the one funding the movie. I am funding the movie and he did not ask for anything, we are the ones who offered to give him a percentage of the revenue.”
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