Money wasn’t my motivation when I started acting – Hajara Usman

Weekend Magazine: How did you start acting?Hajara Usman: Growing up, I had an aunt, Gambo Ahmed, who was serving with Radio Kano at the time. I used to pay her visits in her office. She introduced me to acting; but acting for radio. When the Kano State government established the Kano State Television, I was […]

Weekend Magazine: How did you start acting?
Hajara Usman: Growing up, I had an aunt, Gambo Ahmed, who was serving with Radio Kano at the time. I used to pay her visits in her office. She introduced me to acting; but acting for radio. When the Kano State government established the Kano State Television, I was invited there as an artiste and the same Gambo Ahmed had been transferred from radio to the television station. It was at this point that I began as an artiste on television.
Also, at the time, there was a director, Tijani Ibrahim, who was directing the drama series of the television house. He later on resigned and became one of the pioneers of the Hausa film industry. That is when he started commercial home videos. From the state television, he invited me to come and join him in the private video industry. This was in the early 80s, and it is going to 30 years now.
WM: Considering your culture and background, at that time, did you face any opposition as a woman going into an arena where you would be in public?
Thankfully, I didn’t.This was all thanks to my aunty, Hajia Mariya Galadanci, who was already a journalist and one of the oldest female journalists in Northern Nigeria. In my family we had a lot of journalists. So, being in the public eye wasn’t so new to us.
WM: This is not the story of a lot of women even beyond Northern Nigeria, especially with entertainment. What do you consider to be the challenges such women face?
Hajara Usman: In the past, some female artistes encountered several challenges in this regard, but I would like to say that such things don’t happen anymore. This is because society’s attitude and views about filmmaking have changed.Society now sees filmmaking like they see other trades. The same way some people become mechanics, lawyers, engineers and the rest. Filmmaking is now regarded as part of the employment industry.
I don’t see anything wrong with females being there, because there is no one industry in the world that will comprise only the male folk. Therefore, the women should be encouraged to exercise their rights and develop themselves.
WM: What movies do you like to act?
Hajara Usman: When I started film about 30 years ago, I started as a mother. At the time I wasn’t a mother, but makeup made me one. Now that I am a mother, I always act as one. The films I would like to participate in are films which will mould the society; films that will show a Hausa man the way he truly is. Not the way some films today portrayHausa people. Some films portray things that do not exist and cannot be related to the Hausa man.
I want to act in films which portray our culture and religion as they truly are. I want to use film as a medium to pass on to the other world genuine stories about that Hausa man.
WM: What kind of movies would you not act?
Hajara Usman: Any film that goes contrary to my religion and cultural values; any movie that would make my children to be mocked by the public because I am in it.
WM: How well can you say that Kannywood films have preserved the Hausa culture?
Hajara Usman: A film is supposed to represent you in your absence, but Hausa films cannot make this claim now. Today, I don’t know what it is. It is totally contrary to what the Hausa culture is and contrary to what our norms are. The costumes we use and the hair extensions even the men wear… I look at them and wonder where they got them all from.
If a woman acts as a Hausa woman in a film and a non-Hausa sees it, and has previously read about Hausa people, they can immediately identify with it, but our costumes don’t depict the culture properly.
What the producers are after is to make money and what they would do to attract people and when they attract the people and what they would do to sell their films. People like us who are the pioneers of the Kannywood film industry don’t like it but our hands are folded and there is nothing we can do about it.
WM: A producer says epic movies are expensive to produce and they don’t get sponsorship. How would you suggest they go around this to ensure that they retain the originality of the stories that their movies tell?
Hajara Usman: When we started, our interest was only to shoot the film. The final product was given to the marketer to sell and keep the money. What we wanted was for the world to see us, but today they invest as much as five million naira, how  can they  not do the right thing? When we worked, we had no funding whatsoever, but we still did it correctly.
Besides, all the time we’ve shot movies, we bought fabrics and the tailors made them or we brought our own outfits. If for the proper Hausa films, they asked each actor to come with his own costumes, wouldn’t that save them a lot in costs? Sorry to say, the claims of this producer are flimsy.
WM: The north is known to have a lot of community theatre which was a means by which culture and awareness was passed on to generations. How is that today and do they have any contributions to Kannywood?
Hajara Usman: When I started acting we were called upon to act drama to raise awareness on different issues from health, epidemics to safety and cleanliness among others. Those who were involved in this type of drama were very few and they are the experts in the industry as of today. They are not like the artistes who are just coming up.
WM: You have acted for radio, television and on stage; which has been the most interesting/challenging  for you?
Hajara Usman: I find them all interesting. As for challenge, I would say that the television drama is the most challenging of them all. You spend a lot of time going back and forth and spend so much time on location. If I had my way I would do more stage dramas than television works.
WM: How would you encourage young women who are coming into the industry?
Hajara Usman: Each female coming into the industry should take it as a trade. Not as an avenue where she will make a lot of boyfriends or make a lot of fans, but as a place where she will earn a living.