He is handsome and cute. He is the kind of guy every woman would love
to have. For his numerous roles in romantic films, his fans call him
‘lover-boy’. But most of them may never know that behind his handsome
face lies ‘the bad and the ugly’.
In this exclusive chat with The Entertainer, Ramsey Tokunbo Nouah
recalls the unforgettable, tormenting experiences of his life when he
was humbled by poverty. Here, he remembers the dark days when he slept
under the bridge in Lagos without food. His story is quite touching.
Excerpts:
You are no longer constant in movies. What is happening to you?
I am still on the screen; I pray for better industry than what we have.
We don’t have a proper structure and it is affecting us. It is affecting
so many of us because we don’t have a secured future. For instance,
some veteran actors passed on and people had to gather just to try and
give them a befitting burial. That shouldn’t be the case. We have an
industry that just paid you one off. It is not in any way protective of
the interest of the practitioners, it is not really helping us. I
believe strongly that we need to do a more integrated production,
quality production that will last, like when we started at the
beginning. All the stories are not encouraging and technicality we are
not growing, all these help to slow down the growth of the industry. And
without growth there are can never be a future, without dynamics you
can’t see the frontier. Basically, that’s what we are suffering right
now and there must be changes. The concern of most people shooting now
is about making their money back. They don’t have passion or love for
the industry like we do. So, that’s the reason why I am not acting. I
love doing a good job, something that will benefit the industry, a movie
that whenever you pick it up, if it is five or 20 years you can still
watch and be happy. I want a situation whereby I will do a job and my
great grandchildren will know me by my work. ‘Oh my great grandfather
did this, yes he is the one’. That is what I want to do to leave a mark,
a legacy, no just a passing face.
A lot of your colleagues have gone into producing their own movies. Is that the reason you don’t want to join the trend?
I am working towards producing mine at the moment, but the reason why it
is taking me this long is because I wanted to get it right. I don’t
just want to come out with something little or something that wouldn’t
be of standard. I am one of the pioneers saying that we should have a
better industry. Definitely, I should come out with something really
nice. And that’s why it is taking me so long but I will be coming out
with something this year.