Alhaji Adebayo Salami, widely known as Oga Bello – a true titan of Nigerian cinema has had an illustrious career spanning six decades, Adebayo Salami has not only witnessed but actively shaped the evolution of Nollywood from its nascent stage beginnings to its current global prominence. In this intimate conversation, Oga Bello shares with TOMI FALADE insights into his passion-driven journey, the changing landscape of the industry, and his thoughts on legacy, discipline, and the future of storytelling. 60 years in a career is a huge feat. How does it feel, celebrating 60 years on the job? First and foremost, let me thank Almighty Allah for giving me the grace to be in the field up till now. I’m very happy, and I can say I’m fulfilled, because I have to thank God for ev-erything that has been done for me in the field. Even though in any journey, there must be ups and downs. I’m hap-py, and I’m very thankful. When you started in 1964, as a young boy, did you foresee all these challenges you just mentioned, and what drew you into the world of acting? When I started, I was very young; I was 12 years old then. And I didn’t do it because I’m looking for fame; I didn’t go into it because I’m looking for money. I just had passion for anything that has to do with culture; that’s what made me go into it. However, I found myself in the field of acting, and some-thing inspired me, and somebody in-spired me to go into it. So, finding my-self there, it’s not something I regret because I’m doing something that I’m passionate about. That is the way it is up till now. You talked about influence; somebody influenced you. As a young boy, this is what you have to do. Who is that person, and what was that particular thing this person did, on stage or TV, that made you act? The Late Chief Dr. Hubert Ogun-de inspired me. At that time, I think 1963, before I joined the group, it was Ogunde who was doing a program on television, NTA. The title of the pro-gram was “Village Doctor.” So, I saw it, I liked it, and I liked the way Chief Dr. Hubert Ogunde acted. So, I said, “Yes, I’m going to be like this man.” That’s what inspired me. You are one of the few actors and filmmak-ers who have witnessed the growth of Nollywood. You went from stage to screen, and now, we are not only in cinemas across the world, but we are now on streaming platforms too. What do you think are the key differences across the various stages of Nollywood’s evolution as an industry? Many things have changed over time because everything has to move with time. Many things have changed in terms of technology, storytelling, acting-wise, putting props together, and doing it properly. Because then, when we started, we were seen as drop-outs, as people who were not serious, as lazy individuals. But today, we thank God, we have more and more educated people among us. So, that education has enabled us to change and elevate ourselves. Education has elevated us to the level we are now; that’s number one. Secondly, what I’ve observed is that many things have changed. You cannot compare stage performance to movie production; it’s quite different. The discipline we have in stage perfor-mance is quite different from the one we have in movie production. Then, we were well-disciplined, but discipline is a little bit lacking in the field of film production currently. And, when you look at it, we have more talent in the industry now who can tell stories and interpret their roles very well, so there are a lot of changes here. Speaking of new talent, do you think that this new generation of talent, actors, or filmmakers understand the work that was done to lay a foundation that they are now building upon? Yes, some do understand, but some do not even understand. If you ask some of them, especially the pres-ent generation, they don’t know who Ogunde is. And, you have to give it to Baba Hubert Ogunde, he is the one who commercialised this profession. So, they don’t know who Ogunde is, they don’t know Baba Mero, some of them didn’t even know Baba Sala, they didn’t know about Oyin Adejobi, Ogun-mola, and others like that. And those are the people who created this thing. Those are the people who started it; they paved the way for somebody like me, and we know it. So, if you see some of them who give respect to the elders and know the history, it means their understanding of the industry’s ori-gins comes from those people that we are talking about. That’s what I can say. A number of your children are industry practitioners. Did you at any point influence their choice of being in the industry? Or was it just something you simply support-ed? No, I never even thought that any of my children would take after me. I nev-er thought that some of my children would come into this industry. They just have a passion for it; they have dif-ferent fields, different courses on their own. For instance, Femi is a lawyer. Sodiq Adebayo, who’s a production manager and knows about production management very well, is a geologist. Tope Adebayo is a computer scientist. So, they have different fields; they just have passion for it. There was no time I called any of them and said, “Come, you have to take after me.” No, that is not my style. Even when they wanted to go to university, it’s the course that you say you want to do that I say, go ahead. I would just encourage them, doing my part as a father. I have not influenced anyone, except that I give my support whenever they want to do any production. And they ask me questions, I answer them, I teach them. Was there any point they enjoyed any form of privilege being Oga Bello’s child? Did your influence or your personality, or your name help them get a job? Nothing of such. But they can get my influence whenever they want to shoot and they are looking for a partic-ular location. If they don’t have access to it, maybe I know the person, I can call them, which is the only thing. But for them to get roles, no. For instance, the first movie that I can say brought Femi into the limelight is ‘Owo Blow’. I didn’t even know when he went for the audition. Tade Ogidan was the pro-ducer of the movie. He did not know that Femi Adebayo is my son until after he got the role. So, in your new project ‘Her Excellency’, can you tell us about the controversy at the heart of this film? What message is the film telling? I love to write family stories a lot, and I see that so many people up there, like the Governor, Ministers, encounter so many things in their matrimonial home, and I’m trying to tell people, especially the women, that no matter what the position of your husband is, you have to understand him, give him your full support so that he will have rest of mind. Otherwise, he would not do the work right. So, it’s a way of telling the woman that there is a difference between marital life and one’s profession or career, whatever the case may be. That is my message to people. If you look at it nowadays, many people have gone due to jealou-sy, many people have injured them-selves due to jealousy, and I have so many marriages that have broken be-cause of jealousy. So, I’m telling people, if you are jealous, take it easy. Is this the point at which you retire? I mean, this is a fantastic way to retire for anybody, or are we expecting more from you in the future? Let me make you understand some-thing. I’m not going to retire; I’m not ready to do that. I have many things to throw to the public, to my fans, to enjoy me more. Most artistes don’t re-tire; you only move with time. Moving with time means that by now, nobody would write a story and cast me for a lover boy, it’s not possible. They would rather make me grandpa, or they make me chief executive, or Kabiyesi, or whatever. You see, you don’t retire; if you do retire, the talent will haunt you, no matter how, and you get old in no time. You still need to be moving around. If you are still agile, you still have the idea, you put out the idea. That is why I will not retire. Your son, Femi Adebayo once said he had to slap you while playing a role once. And immediately after the slapping, he just went on the floor and prostrated, saying, “Daddy, I’m so sorry.” Could you relive that memory with us, sir? Let me tell you, if I’m acting with him or any of my sons on set, I’m not seeing them as my son; I’m not seeing them as my child at all. I’m looking at them as a colleague; I’m looking at him to interpret his role properly, and I interpret my own too properly. I must confess to you, when he came and said, “Daddy, I’m not being rude,” I told him, “God save you. If you had not slapped me, I would have slapped you after the shooting, because you didn’t do the part; you didn’t interpret your role very well, and you must do it properly. What’s your take on sex-for-role? Wherever you belong, whatever sector you belong to, there probably may be occurrences like that. But there’s no sexual harassment because you want to get a role, or somebody wants to give you a role. In our days, up to now, I don’t believe it. Most of these girls approach directors and produc-ers, pleading, and by all means, they want to be in the film. They are ready to agree with whatever your condition is. A good director or producer will not cast anybody with sentiment. If you have a good story, and you cast with sentiment, you will spoil your story. Sexual harassment is all over. It happens within the bank. It happens within broadcasters; it happens wher-ever, in the ministry. But you cannot force anybody to do anything. If you are interested, fine; if you are not in-terested, fine. By force, no. Have you ever been in that position, where a lady, an upcoming actor, even an accom-plished one, had come to you, and asked to appear in your film while offering sex? I will not even leave the chance for you to come and meet me about it, be-cause I’m a disciplined director, and I won’t do it. I know the rudiments of the profession; therefore, I would not do it. I will not give you the chance to come near me. I’ve never seen anyone like that. But I know it happens cur-rently in this generation. Speaking about discipline, you have been quite vocal about issues that have to do with structure and discipline in Nollywood. Where do you think we are now, as an industry? There is structure, but one thing is you cannot force anybody to join any association. And I want you to know that some people lack disci-pline; they are not disciplined even from their home. They cannot face the discipline in the association, so they refuse to join the association. Those are the people that are undisciplined, and that you are seeing out there. Yet, they will say they belong to this pro-fession. The discipline, in our own days, is quite different from this; you must respect your call time. When it is three o’clock, you must respect that call time. But now, a star can come and say, “I was so tired and I couldn’t get a driver.” Such excuses are not tenable in this profession. It happens now, and I don’t know. It’s quite different from our era. Even if you are playing the lead, I would say, “Leave my set.” That’s why, up to now, in any of my movies, I have adopted that one, right from the stage. I would double-cast. If one is not serious, I would take the second one, which is what we call understudying.