Nollywood actor Gabriel Afolayan has encouraged fans and movie practitioners to criticise the Nigerian movie industry, saying it “is needed” for its growth and development.
The ‘Citation’ movie star said this during an interview with Saturday Beats as he argued that it is by way of criticism that Nollywood would have a fair assessment of its works.
He said, “Criticism is needed. How do we get better if people are not ready to talk about what we are doing? Both the audience and filmmakers have to come together.”
When probed about whether Nollywood is ready to make action films, Gabriel answered in the affirmative, saying the Nigerian movie industry “is ready for everything.”
He explained further that Nollywood audiences are, in fact, ready for anything the Nigerian movie industry serves them.
He said, “Nollywood is ready for everything. Trust me, we just need to keep serving. You don’t know how intelligent people are until you create something that will blow their minds. Even if you believe you’ve made a great film, until an audience watches it and decides whether it’s good or not, nothing else really matters. I feel our audience is ready for everything we have to give them.”
Gabriel also commended Nigerian viewers for being knowledgeable about films, praising them for offering deep analysis of movies as though they were part of the production process.
“The taste buds of Nigerians when it comes to different movie genres are very sharp. You see people in the medical field analysing films as if they were part of the production,” he noted.
“Ordinary people dissect movies, and you’ll be amazed. You know why? Because we make these films for them,” Gabriel added.
Speaking further, Gabriel said, “A film doesn’t belong to the filmmaker; they are just instruments the universe uses to put it together. And because they love the film, they’ll put money in your pocket as a filmmaker. But even after you release a film, you won’t make anything from it until the audience says it is good enough.”
