Ladin Cima, a famous kannywood The actress, known for her motherly roles in Hausa films, has revealed that she has never been paid more than N5000 since she began her acting career fifty years ago.
In an interview with BBC Hausa on Thursday, the actress said she cannot boast of having anything tangible because she is underpaid.
She said, “I am in Kannywood, but you will be surprised that for all my time in the film industry, I never earned more than N5000 naira. It is always N5000 and below. I didn’t have enough to save and do something tangible for myself all these years because of how poorly we are paid. Let me tell you, even before this interview, I was at a filming location, and after my recording, I was only paid N2,000 naira.”
The actress said that she started acting in the 1970s in Kaduna after her husband died in Kano. In the early days, she traveled to Kaduna to shoot the films for the Nigerian Television Authority.
“My first film was Shehu Umar, and we were not paid. So we are mainly transported to the location in Kaduna from Kano, and all we get is food. But because of the passion, we are always excited to come to Kaduna every Friday for the recording. So it was exciting.”
Ali Nuhu, Falalu, Dorayi, react
Meanwhile, some producers, including Ali Nuhu and Falalu Dorayi, debunked Ladi’s comments after the interview.
While speaking to BBC Hausa, Nuhu said that he had paid actress Ladi N40,000 on all the films she appears in from the stable of FKD, his company.
Another producer, Dorayi, said that he paid the actress between 30,000 and 40,000 naira to appear in his films.
Nazir in defense of actress Ladin
However, Kannywood singer and film producer Nazir Ahmed responded in defense of the actress, saying that everything she said was the truth.
“Many actors and actresses are underpaid in Kannywood, especially those who play the roles of mother and father.
Singer Ahmed shared a video on his Instagram page supporting the actress and asked those who attack her to desist.
“I myself did a survey and the actress was right. I’m also an actor and producer for Kannywood. So I know what’s going on.
“The actress is right, and she said it all. She is not a girl and she knows what she is paid for. It is possible that the people assigned by the producers to pay people like her have scammed them. That’s the truth. They don’t get paid well at all.
PREMIUM TIMES spoke with Kannywood Film Analyst Hassana Dalhat to better understand how actors are paid at Kannywood.
Dalhat said the actors are paid based on personal terms and negotiations between them and the producers.
“Actors are generally underpaid in Kannywood. As someone who has been following the industry for over a decade, I know how actors are paid. It’s basically how you agree with the producer.
“Many of them are paid a meager salary and less than N2000 per film. However, featured actors charge up to N500,000 per film.”
Piracy
Although the threat of piracy is raging in Kannywood, major players have since turned to YouTube.
The effect of piracy has negatively impacted the livelihood of filmmakers and actors, but also that of production companies, theaters and support staff.
In separate interviews, experts told PREMIUM TIMES that piracy had brought the industry to a near-comatose state until the parties involved began coming up with clever strategies to beat the pirates at their own game.
So bad are the activities of these pirates that Kannywood producers have stopped producing movies in recent years.
Many actors have also become redundant, and many of those who have produced films that have not yet been released were unable to do so due to piracy.