Lawal Kaura: Exit of one of Kannywood’s most versatile
Perhaps best-known for his comedic acting roles in films like Ibro Aloko and Ustazai, Kaura also worked as a director, producer, screenwriter, location manager, welfare manager, and cameraman. He was born on 14th August 1977 in Kano. As his colleague comedian Rabiu Ibrahim (Daushe) narrated, after receiving Islamic and government education, he first became involved […]
Perhaps best-known for his comedic acting roles in films like Ibro Aloko and Ustazai, Kaura also worked as a director, producer, screenwriter, location manager, welfare manager, and cameraman. He was born on 14th August 1977 in Kano. As his colleague comedian Rabiu Ibrahim (Daushe) narrated, after receiving Islamic and government education, he first became involved in entertainment through acting in stage drama. He became Chairman of the Al Sa’ad drama group in Gombe, then returned to Kano in 2004 where he acted in stage dramas at CTV with the Taurani Cultural Group, and Gidan dan Hausa. He was also involved in the Na’ibawa drama group in Unguwa Uku. According to his friend Kannywood director Falalu Dorayi, he became involved with the Hausa film industry in 2005 when he met Adam A. Zango, while making extra income working as a commercial motorcyclist. Since Zango did not have a car at that time, Kaura would transport him wherever he needed to go on his motorcycle. Through his interaction with Hausa filmmakers, Kaura became interested in writing film scripts and he wrote the film Bakandamiya, which was produced by Adam A. Zango and directed by Sadiq Kaura. Not long after, Kaura wrote the story and screenplay and directed the film Nanaye, produced by Umar Kanu, the husband of Fati Mohammad.
Following the crackdown on Hausa filmmakers by the Kano State Censorship Board, he moved to Kaduna in 2008 where he continued to work with Adam A. Zango, writing scripts for Zango’s productions. He also worked as a location manager, and helped with welfare and camerawork.
Among the films he wrote and directed are Aloko, Balarabe na Balaraba , Jahilai, Karshen Zamani, Kwance Tashi, Nanaye, Masana, Ranar Suna, Sarki 1,2, and 3, and so on. His latest films Ustazai and and Kwad’ayi were released only months before his death. Ustazai 2 and 3 are currently in post production.
I first met Lawal Kaura in November 2008. From our conversation, I could tell that he was passionate about his career. He got into film, he told me in a brief interview, with his own money out of interest. “The biggest thing I want people to understand,” he said, “is that I’m not doing film for any body else. No one pressured me into it. I see it as a profession, and as a way to support my religion and my family.” Of the criticism he received for his film Ibro Aloko, he told me every film has its own time and is made for a particular audience. Aloko, he made for Hausa audiences, to show a wedding party. “Are Hausa people not allowed to enjoy their culture?” he asked me. “Do they not have wedding parties? Do they not joke and laugh? Oh, they have them. They have parties. They have culture and music.” As passionate as Kaura was about his profession, he was equally passionate about his religion. He was known for sending out text messages and facebook posts that encouraged fellow Muslims in their faith. He good naturedly called his facebook friends “students” as he expounded on lessons learned from the life of the Prophet. To one of his friends, he responded, “every morning we should try to build ourselves up through a verse or hadith or teaching from the scholars to improve our own faith and that of our family, searching for how we can do what is righteous in the eyes of Allah.”
Kaura’s death has left his friends, colleagues and fans pensive. Director and actor Mikail Isah bin Hassan told me he had grown up in the same neighborhood as Kaura and had known him ever since he was a young boy. He described Kaura as hard working and humble, not afraid to ask questions about something he didn’t know. Comedian Rabi’u Ibrahim (Daushe) narrated the details of his colleague’s career, from his stage drama days to screenwriting and directing, and reminisced about the last film Ustazai that they had done together. He repeated that Kaura was a good man, who had no enemies. Actress Saratu Gidado said that with his involvement in “acting, producing, directing, and scriptwriting” he had contributed to the progress of the industry. “Lawal lived at peace with us, full of playfulness and laughter. He didn’t have problems with people, everyone knows that.”
New York-based rapper and sound engineer Nazir Ahmad Hausawa (Ziriums) mourned that he has “lost a friend who is not afraid to tell me what he feels towards my actions,” writing his memories of the last time he saw Kaura in September 2010 laughing “as he watched my music video on his laptop with Ali Nuhu, Falalu Dorayi and other film crew.” Actor and producer Umar Gombe said that Kaura was a brother as much as he was a colleague, who never fought with anyone. The last time they had met, they had discussed a film they had planned to do together: “A very interesting story—we never got to do it,” he lamented.
Actor and director Isyaka Jalingo similarly recalled the last time he had seen him in Kaduna, first on a film location, and then in Kawo car park on the way back to Kano. It was only a few days after that, he told me, that he heard the news that Kaura was ill. While he was in the hospital, Isyaka said, he made phone calls to many people that he knew asking them to forgive him for anything he may have done to offend them and forgiving any offenses against him. Isyaka planned with a friend to visit him in the hospital only to receive a phone call the next day that Kaura had died.
Comedian Ibrahim Gatari asked God to give him the patience to deal with the loss of his beloved friend. He called on fans and colleagues in the industry “from those of us comedians to the leaders of the industry like Ali Nuhu, to the musicians” to learn from his death to come together to love and support each other.