Kannywood Filmmaker Maishadda: The Political Candidate An Artist Promotes May Not Be His Personal Choice

Kannywood filmmaker Abubakar Bashir Maishadda has said that the political candidate an artist in Kannywood promotes is not necessarily his personal view, adding that for him, a filmmaker doing politics is not a problem.

Maishadda stated this in an interview with BBC Hausa and monitored by Northern Nigeria Hub, where he spoke on politics and film making in the Hausa industry.

“For me artist engaging in politics, it’s not a problem on my part, since I know that the candidate he is promoting isn’t necessarily his personal view. So if you do politics, I don’t resent you; if you don’t do it, I don’t resent you either,” Maishadda said.

Speaking further on politics in Kannywood, Maishadda said there is politics they did in the past during the 13-13 politics, which he said caused more division at that time compared to this time.

On his relationship with Rarara, Maishadda said there is nothing politically linking him and Rarara, stating that Rarara does politics while he does not do politics and has no political view.

He said not doing politics on the same line does not mean they are not together.

“There is nothing linking me and Rarara. What happens is that Rarara does politics, while I cannot do politics and I have no political view. And us not doing politics together doesn’t mean we are not together. Even now when I came to this town to start working, I hung out with Rarara for over three hours, chatting and joking. But politics is politics. Politics is that we won’t tow the same political line, and I have my company that I run my things through, while Rarara also has his company through which he runs his things. But we have a good relationship; we have already become family, he and I. But I cannot do politics while he does politics, and I don’t resent him for doing his politics, nor does he resent me since we don’t do politics — we are getting along very well,” he said.

Maishadda also recalled how politics helped him revive his capital after his first film failed. He said in 2013 when he started producing his own film titled Kafin Safiya with the help of Hajiya Aisha Ahmad, the money was not more than five hundred thousand naira, and after he made the film, the capital crashed because of youthful mismanagement.

“It was the money… work today and tomorrow, like a youth making foolish moves… You squander the money and spend it. Then by the grace of God, Yakubu Muhammad and Danja took us and led us to Namadi Sambo during the period of elections — Goodluck Jonathan’s election period. When that tenure elapsed, during that political season they took us along, and that was where I got my capital back,” he said.

On the frequent change of actors in long-running series, Maishadda said he knows there are arrangements in the Kannywood industry — not just with Maishadda — almost every popular series in the industry has experienced this kind of problem.

He said since the problem is observed, there must be a reason why it happens. Among the actors he removed, there is one who got married.

“We did season two with her when I shot Matan Gida seasons one and two. Last year I shot it in October and November, and then this year when I came to shoot season three, she got married. What can I do? You have to replace her,” he said.

He added that there is another one for whom he set a date three months in advance — not setting the date today or the day before yesterday, but three months before the film’s date — yet when it came to work, she caused a problem.

When asked if they do not fill standard contract documents stating that an actor has accepted work for three months, that he has paid half or full money and therefore the actor will not go to do any other work until his own is finished, Maishadda said:

“Well, that is the biggest problem in Kannywood. We don’t do that. I just have a connection with you, we will work, I will send you your money, I just have a receipt that I paid you money, and you come and work. You come and start working with a girl enthusiastically — in fact, some girl might even beg you to put her in the film. Another one, you look at your connection with her and decide to put her in, but then when you cast the girl in the film, a problem arises.”

On whether they do not pay enough money, he said they do pay them.

On the complaint that when they replace actors they do not sit down to screen and choose those who will replace them so that the story does not drop from its original standard, he said:

“Yes, I appreciate this example you gave. God is witness, those in Matan Gida can testify; there is an actress — while we were in the middle of production, tomorrow was set to start work, and I knew she wouldn’t come to the location. You see, I had no choice. These long-running series have almost taken over the Kannywood industry; you could say it’s only now that your ladle is returning to this sector. But then people keep asking: the faces we saw in Balaraba, we see them in Garwashi, we see them in another film — why do you do that? Mostly, there are actors with whom whatever you do, even if there is a misunderstanding, it won’t affect the business market of their brand. So you will see that mostly with such actors, we take them and cast them. There are many actors who, as you can see, since long-running series started, have never had a problem — now, for example, let me name some: Yakubu Muhammad, Sadiq Sani Sadiq, or Adam Garba. Which production was ever done with them where you saw a problem? But why are problems more frequent on the women’s side? Well, I feel that from my perspective, men take things more seriously than women. But among women, too, there are those who are serious. There are those you can work with now — if you take people like Aisha Najamu or Momi Gombe, you have never seen any production with them where a problem was encountered.”

On how much capital he started with given that viewers see nice houses and good clothes in his films, he said he started in 2013 with not more than five hundred thousand naira with the help of Hajiya Aisha Ahmad for Kafin Safiya.

On the biggest loss he has experienced in film production from when he started until now, he said:

“Honestly, since I started the film business, I have never made a loss.”