Lying in a coffin my most uncomfortable role yet– Bob-Manuel Udokwu

Weekend Magazine: You have been in the entertainment industry for quite a long time. How did your journey begin? Bob-Manuel Udokwu: I found out early in life that I’m gifted in acting. As a matter of fact, I started acting while I was in primary school, and school was putting me on radio and television […]

Weekend Magazine: You have been in the entertainment industry for quite a long time. How did your journey begin?
Bob-Manuel Udokwu: I found out early in life that I’m gifted in acting. As a matter of fact, I started acting while I was in primary school, and school was putting me on radio and television for children’s programmes. After secondary school, I began to act on stage before I got admission to the University of Port Harcourt to study Theatre Arts, starting with a certificate program where I majored in acting and won second runner-up prize for Student Actor of the Year in 1986. I went on to have a degree in Theatre Arts.

WM: What challenges did you encounter early in the industry?
Udokwu: Because Theatre Arts wasn’t popular and the Igbo people were very conservative about entertainment, I faced initial resistance from my parents, especially my father. But over time, I got them to reason with me. My father was a Civil Servant and my mother, a petty trader, so I got them to see the other side of things, that everyone mustn’t study the same course. It was a challenge then but I overcame it. 

WM: Aside being an actor, you are also a producer, director and politician. How do you juggle these?
Udokwu: There’s nothing to juggle. By the way, I studied under the late Ola Rotimi who wrote ‘The Gods Are Not to Blame’. Most people think of Theatre Arts in terms of acting, but they teach you everything, including theatrical production. You are taught acting, directing, play writing, costume, choreography, and so on. It’s just that there was no industry for movies then. Luckily I became one of the pioneers of what you call the Nigerian film industry, today. The fastest or easiest way to be recognised as a theatre practitioner, back then and now is to be in front of the camera. That’s why most of us who studied Theatre Arts back then and wanted to break out into the public consciousness, started out with acting.
About being a political appointee, my portfolio is Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Creative Media. If I don’t go into the movie industry to know what is going on constantly, how will I be able to advise the Executive Governor of Anambra State on the industry? For me, it’s not a problem at all. Besides, my Master’s degree was in Political Science, with emphasis on International Relations. So it serves me well to be a trained entertainer and somebody who also studied Political Science. I’m very much at home with all that.

WM: Checkmate is the TV series that took you to stardom. How did you clinch the role?
Udokwu: In 1989, 1990 academic session, I was the national president of the Nigerian Universities Theatre Arts Students Association, NUTASA. Back then we used to have what was called NUTAF, Nigerian Universities Theatre Arts Festival. When I was elected national president of NUTAF, I went to see the level of preparations of University of Nsukka who had gotten the hosting rights for that year. After that, I went to see my parents in Enugu and went to NTA and what used to be ATV, Old Anambra Television station to see some people. There I was told about an audition for a TV soap opera. I attended the audition. That was where I met Amaka Igwe for the first time and Bolaji Dawodu, who became the director of Checkmate. Later that year, in 1989, we shot the pilot episode of Checkmate in Enugu and Udi. The following year they sent word to me in University of Port Harcourt that they have gotten sponsorship and that I should come to Lagos for another audition if I wanted to be in the production. I went for the audition at Pec Theatre at Onikon Area. In the end I went back to Port Harcourt and they got in touch with me again for another audition. They later told me I was still retained as Richard Haatrope.

WM: What’s the experience like, being Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Anambra State on Creative Media?
Udokwu: Every endeavour you take brings a new experience. This is a new chapter in my life where one is part of the process of leadership at the state level. It’s interesting, as well as a good experience working with someone like Governor Willie Obiano, who is very passionate about developing the state.

WM: What steps have you been able to take to develope the entertainment industry?
Udokwu: It’s a collective effort. For instance, you don’t do a production alone. For stage and television production, you need a large team. Now if it comes to specifics, like what I have been doing since I became the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Creative Media, the government is doing quite a lot to encourage youngsters to bring out their creativity and develop them. Because our work is in the public domain and its creative work, when you give out what you are doing or planning to do, before you know it, another person is already stealing that idea. It has happened to me. I have developed a couple of programs that I am running to develop talent in this area. Last year, I did an entertainment show called ‘Naija New Dawn Show’. It was on the 30th of May. The idea was that, this government was sworn in on the 29th and the show was showing on the 30th. So, just like everybody else, I saw it as a new dawn for Nigeria, so I titled the show Naija New Dawn Show where talent in acting dancing, comedy and music were harnessed.

WM: What idea of yours was once stolen?
Udokwu: I don’t want to go into that. It’s just like when you are told to bring a proposal and they tell you later that they are not interested. But they have made a copy of it and you see them later doing it. It’s unfortunate, but in Nigeria, people are not willing to apply their own brain to think. They would rather someone dream-up a new idea. Some will even ask you the sequence in which it will be done.  Even corporate organisations steal our ideas. It’s a shame.

WM: You were once the anchor for the Ultimate Search reality show. Why did you leave?
Udokwu: I was the third anchor and I came in in the fourth season in 2007 in Jos. I became the longest anchor person. There’s a reason for that. I had to bring in a lot more on the table. So I didn’t leave. I was very passionate about it. For some reasons that I don’t know, after about five years, the owners or whoever that were taking decisions, decided that I shouldn’t anchor. I know what I brought to bear on the show. I always did research, drawn from different experiences, and tried as much as possible to make it interesting and educative. Sometimes I quote from literary sources, from the Bible and authorities. At some point, some students of higher institutions told me that some of their lecturers asked them to watch the show and note Bob Manuel’s presentations because questions will come from there. And these were not theatre Arts students. So I know the impact I made across the country was huge. I am proud that I was auditioned and not invited. I am on record today the longest anchor of the biggest reality television show in Nigeria.

WM: Now to directing. What do you look out for in a movie script?
Udokwu: The story has to be very strong and tight, with a very strong message. It must be able to get people thinking in a direction that will make the society better. 

WM: Which was the most uncomfortable role you had to play in a movie and why?
Udokwu: Maybe what will stand out is the first time I had to lie in a coffin. It was quite dark and I had to open my eyes inside the coffin. It set me thinking, this is how lonely it is to be dead. I guess that’s why a lot of people who aren’t trained in the art have some sought of beliefs about it, especially being Africans. But when you’re trained, you realise its being somebody else.

WM: is there a role you still crave to act?
Udokwu: The best is yet to come. For me, my life as an actor is like that of the mystical bird called phoenix, such that when it’s getting old, it busts into flames and from the ashes, a new one will emerge. So I see my talent and creativity like that of a phoenix, that with each new presentation or production, something new comes up that will wow people.

WM: You were an actor before you went into directing. Why did you decide to become a director? 
Udokwu: its competence and training. People out there who are not knowledgeable about the inner workings of the industry see the director like a chief executive in a company, but that’s not the case. He is not the owner of the movie, but simply a person hired to interpret the script. In normal settings, the director is hired by the producer, who is responsible for hiring the actor and everybody else in the production.   

  
WM: How do you make out time for your family?
Udokwu: Before I got my political appointment, whenever I’m not on location or working on set, I try to be with my family as much as possible. Now my kids are in secondary school, so during holidays, I make sure I spend time with them. We bond. If they are not on holiday, every once in a while I go to be with my wife. In a nutshell, I try to spend as much time as possible with my family when the opportunity arises.