Veteran Nollywood filmmaker Tunde Kelani has said that the 44th Olubadan of Ibadan, Rashidi Ladoja, gave him an N85,000 loan to produce his first feature film. He recently had his say during an appearance on The Dupe Ajayi Show, and fans have been reacting.
Reflecting on the early years of his filmmaking career and the support he received, Kelani disclosed that Ladoja helped him financially when he decided to make his first film about 10 years after returning from the London Film School.
Tunde added that even though the project did not recover its production cost, he was grateful for the gesture.
His words, “Ten years after London Film School, I realised that I hadn’t made a film. I decided that yes, it is time to make one. I put up a team. We had the Cinecraft, and we could donate our skills, but we still needed money.
The money we needed according to that budget was 85,ooo naira. So Alhaji Lasisi Oriekun said, and I have a brother oh, if we tell him maybe he can lend us the money.
His brother was Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja. He agreed and gave us the money. Collectively, from my experience, it was successful.
We didn’t recoup the money, but whatever we made, I took it to Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja and said, ‘Excuse me, sir, please take this. This is what we have now.’
Later on, I decided to start a company, Mainframe Production Opomulero, to document, promote and preserve Yoruba culture and history.
I went back to Kabiyesi Olu Ibadan and told him my plan. I needed a lot of money. At first instance it was about 50,000 pounds and he funded it and even more than that.”
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