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Reveals How Acting Made Him A STAR!
City People Magazine visited Pa James of Papa Ajasco a few days ago and we had an interview with him. Pa James, a veteran actor from the long-running Nigerian TV show “Papa Ajasco and company” in the interview with City People shared his journey into acting. He talked about his early experiences in school plays, the challenges he faced while following his passion, and the key moments that helped him land his famous role.
“I started from school, he told City People. “You know in school then, it’s not like today, then we use to act end of the year drama, and I used to put in my all, because when we watched the television, we use to see those we regarded as our role models, like baba Oyin Adejobi, Baba Kola Ogunmola, those where good examples. So when we watch TV, we too will practice that for our school drama, later when I finished school, because I went to Itekuwa early EA School in Kwara State, Ifelodun Local Government.”
“In that place we used to act end of the year drama. My parents did not have the money to send me to secondary school, although, they tried their best to send me to school, but they couldn’t, that even made my father cry at times, whenever he remembered he would say “you this boy, I wanted you to study”. I would say that I will work to sponsor myself to school, that’s what I said till I never went back to school. That’s what has made me decide that none of my children will work before going to school, because once a child starts making money, going back to school to study will be difficult.
As I came out from school and I started working and they were giving me one pound ten, if we calculate it with the current exchange rate, you know how much that would be. When we collect it then it’s as if we have collected plenty money, so after that I worked at UTC Apapa. But still I was determined to become an actor so I went to where they learn how to act. That one too had its own difficulties, but what God has said someone will do, he or she will surely do it. I was working in UTC, one day after I came back from work and was relaxing, my friends came and said let’s go and watch a stage play, I didn’t want to go at first but they convinced me to go with them and when we got to the place where they were doing rehearsal, we sat down and were watching, there was a play they wanted to do 2 days from that time, and they were doing rehearsals, so someone acting one of the characters did not perform well, and it was a watch night scene, so the boss got angry and said he was not doing again and asked everyone to go home.
I did not know what came over me, I just said it out “I can do it”, the workers that were already unhappy that their boss wanted to cancel the movie, quickly voiced out “this man said he can do it”.
I got scared immediately and the oga now asked me if I was into any theatre acting before and I said no that it was only school drama I have done.
So he asked me to act the role, I did it, they were all happy and they clapped. It was 3 scenes they initially gave that role but I did 5 scenes because whenever, I mounted the stage, I made people laugh, I was lively, so I started helping them, I didn’t know that was what I would later use to feed myself. So that’s how I entered theatre, we would move from one stage to the other.”
What movie brought you to limelight?
“The movie that brought me out was Aya Oni Moto where I was called Ajirebi, later was Emu Lewu, after that the group I was in did a movie in LTV titled “Aso e re” I came out well in the movie, the character was a thief and he stole a prison cloth and didn’t know and was wearing it about and the soldiers that were searching for the prisoners where there, meanwhile it was a friend of mine that pushed me to it, so he kept shouting “Aso e re” so that was how the police saw the number and arrested him.”
When Baba Adenuga called him to come and join them, did he tell you what he saw that made him ask you to join them?
“Then we were in Fadeyi with Oga Jide Kosoko, Oga Kosoko, had his own in his house, Fadeyi across we were in Fadeyi close to the road. ”
“There were some people directing a work “Binta my daughter” they now called me, Femi Bright was the one who called me and said Ajirebi, will be good for this role. Femi Bright was the one that did all the negotiations and they asked me to do the Binta my daughter. After I did 3 scenes the boss really liked it, it made him laugh a lot and when Oga likes something he will laugh a lot and let you know he likes it. After I did the three scenes then they wanted to do Papa Ajasco and they called me, when they called me, we got talking and they said they have done some episodes, I thought it wa something we were going to do once stop and I will get my pay, but he said that the movie would be long, it will take a while if we do it well, I didn’t know it would even last this long, that’s how we started if we do some episodes they will pay us, and it was getting longer, later Oga came and they gave us 10 episodes at once, and we did it, it’s now 25 years and we are still doing it.
Is it still the same role he is playing?
“Pa James is still the role I play because then they said there was Papa Ajasco, Mama Ajasco, Ajasco, Alinco, Pa Jimoh, then Pa James. That Pa Jimoh is also funny, so they said I should also act Pa James so that the funny characters will follow themselves.
JJ were the two of them, so that was how I was selected it was funny when I mentioned my name as James Olukayode Olaseinde, they said you are bearing James that’s very good.”
What can you point out that this work Papa Ajasco, has done for you that made you you till this day?
“This work at first was quite challenging, if one was not patient, one would have ran away, it made me get married late, because I was scared of making another man’s child suffer. In the cause of this work, I dated a woman in 1983/84 she got pregnant for me.
We knew each other from where we were acting, she was also acting, one day we had a play in Ikorodu there was a character the girl would play, then they asked someone to go and call her. We were waiting in Ijede, when the person went to call her, she said she wasn’t feeling well, she called one of my friends aside and said she was pregnant and it was for Ajirebi. When the person came to meet me, he said the lady cannot come that she was pregnant for me. As I heard that, I lost my reasoning, I ran away. I ran to Lagos then I had nothing so those where what I thought of.
When I was working at UTC Apapa, the friends that I established a group with ask me to resign, I was a bit reluctant and later after I resigned and I went for a play and they gave us money and my share was 15 kobo. I started crying that what have I gotten myself into. Later I adapted to it, and I started seeing good money from it.
…..If I am talking about my success story, I can not forget my Oga Wale Adenuga MFR. He is a great father not just by mouth.
“There was a day they wrote a script and the director told me that it is what they wrote on the script that I must say. I did truly follow the script and everything they said but I wasn’t myself till we did 3 episodes. Then Oga (Wale Adenuga) came home. Then, we do news in Isolo. In his house then later we started using different places, we used Ikorodu too at some point, what I am talking about now happened in ikorodu. Oga then looked at the preview of the works, when he looked at it he noticed how I was in the movie that once I say the dialogue, that was all there was no much action, oga then called the director that “he should leave this man alone, give him free hand to say whatever he wants to say so he can be free and deliver well”.
Immediately the director came back, he said Pa James follow the script and say whatever you want to say. After he left me to do whatever I wanted to do, I was able to perform well. When Oga came back to check he was impressed and said to the director, did you see what he did?
So that funny character has always been a part of me, if I was asked to act in a serious drama I would also act it well but in the serious drama they will still be a bit of comedy.”
–Promise Babatunde
