Ibrahim Yekini popularly known as Itele is gradually becoming the most sought after actor in the Yoruba movie industry.
Itele who is mostly known for his action-packed movies also acts romantic roles but lots of producers prefer to cast him for action roles because he has a unique way of interpreting the roles perfectly. His roles in movies like Anini, Akoba, Aje Meta, Kesari and so on gave him prominence in the Yoruba movie industry. He got his first appearance in the movie “Ijakumo Mefa”, and since then he has remained at the top of his career.
He is an award-winning actor, producer and director.
In the last few months, his two movies “The Return Of Kesari” and “Lucifer” have emerged.
The first indigenous movie to hit millions of views on YouTube and this has increased the rating of talented actors in the industry. “The Return Of Kesari hits 2 million views on YouTube a few days ago. It was released towards the end of last year as if that was not enough, his latest movie “Lucifer” has also hit 1 million views within two weeks of release on YouTube making it the very first indigenous movie to break such records.
For many who don’t know much about Ibrahim Yekini, he was a professional boxer before joining the movie industry. He has always had a strong passion for acting so all he did, was just to follow his dream in life. He learnt everything he knows about acting from the popular filmmaker, Don Richard and it was through the training he got from him, he started directing movies as well and the very humble and respectful actor looks up to people like veteran actor Anita Laniyan and Don Richard as mentors in the industry. City People Senior Reporter, BIODUN ALAO asks him few questions on how he feels about the new records.
When asked how he feels about the outcome of his two latest movies? Here is what he said.
I love my job and I equally love to put in my best in everything I do, regardless of what the outcome would be, when I produced Kesari, The Return Of Kesari, I never thought the movie will in any way break record or even become one of the most talked-about in the movie industry. I love to experiment a lot, and I am also a lover of good movies, I watch lots of Hollywood movies, and most of the action-packed movies inspires my movies as well, take for example “The Black Panther inspired my movie Kesari, and the reviews I got from people that watched it, inspired me to do more. My fans wanted more from that story, so I decided to satisfy them. In all, I wouldn’t have achieved this without the support from my cast and crew members, marketers, fans and different media platforms. Then as for the movie “Lucifer”. I love critics, they always ginger me to do more.
When people saw my movie Kesari and The Return Of Kesari, they concluded I was just lucky to have achieved such success, so it might be difficult for me to achieve such success in any other movie, so I needed to prove them wrong. I worked extra hard to make them understand, it is not really about one being lucky, but all about hard work, determination and above all God’s grace in one’s life.
Itele is one actor, that despite all his hard work and achievement in life, he always recognise God’s grace upon his life and doesn’t take it for granted. According to him, “whatever I have achieved this without the support from my cast and crews members, marketers, fans and different media platforms. Then as for the movie “Lucifer”, I love critics, they always ginger me to do more.
When people saw my movie Kesari and The Return of Kesari, they concluded I was just lucky to have achieved such success, so it might be difficult for me to achieve such success in any other movie, so I needed to prove them wrong. I worked extra hard to make them understand, it is not really about one being lucky, but all about hard work, determination and above all God’s grace in one’s life.
Itele is one actor, that despite all his hard work and achievement in life, he always recognise God’s grace upon his life and doesn’t take it for granted. According to him, “whatever I have achieved so far is by God’s grace. It is only God that crown one’s effort in life with success and I can never take it for granted. I can boldly say it is God’s grace that is at work in my life, and secondly, when God says it is time, there is nothing anyone can do about it, so I feel it is God-appointed time in my life and I am happy about the turn of things right now, even though I have not even gotten to where I am going to yet in life.
Why the title “Lucifer”, does it have anything to do with the devil?
I am someone that loves to title my movies very catchy titles, that will quickly attract people, take, for example, my other movies, with titles like Anini, Kesari, and lots of others like that. I always want a name that people will be eager to watch and see what it is all about I had an encounter with a guy when travelled to South Africa, and people call him that, so when I was considering title to my latest movie, the name came to my mind, and I know people will like to go and see what the movie is all about. Though I am a versatile actor, I love to feature in action-packed movies that also explains why lots of producers cast me more for such roles.
Honestly, I feel extremely great about the outcome of the movie Lucifer, because I put all my energy in the movie because I know the record I set in Kesari, so I had to do more and I am really grateful to God that I am seeing the result already.
When asked how he feels breaking record with his movies? This is what he said: like I said earlier, anybody that puts trust in God will never be put to shame I know it’s been God from day one he has always been there for me and I know he will forever remain the same and I believe so much in him.
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