It was quite a year for Kannywood in 2020, as the industry witnessed unforgettable events amid the global pandemic that crippled it.
Below are some of Kannywood’s talking points from the year:
Kano govt shuts down Sani Danja’s studio – In February, Kannywood actor and singer, Sani Danja, criticised the Kano Government for locking up his photo and recording studio in the state. He called the action a political clampdown on the ‘opposition’ in the entertainment industry. Danja accused the Governor Abdullahi Ganduje-led government of witch-hunting opposition supporters.
Responding to Danja’s claim, the chairperson of the Kano State censors board, Afakallahu Na’abba, said he could not provide evidence that he registered his company with the board.
Actress Maryam Booth sued ex-lover over nude video -In March, the Kannywood actress accused her ex-lover, Ibrahim Rufai, of leaking her nude video on social media.
The three seconds nude video was shot in a room, by someone the actress was very close with. The actress accused her former lover, Ibrahim Rufai, popularly known as Deezell, of leaking the video.
Adam Zango campaigned against COVID-19 -In May, Kannywood actor and singer, Adam Zango, released a new song titled Coronavirus. In the four minutes song, Zango prayed for God’s protection on the people from the dreaded disease.
Ali Nuhu loses father -In June, the Kannywood industry was thrown into a mourning state as one of its leading figures, Ali Nuhu, lost his father, Nuhu Poloma, who died in Gombe.
According to multiple reports on the incident, Poloma was rushed to the Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, where he was pronounced dead from an undisclosed illness.
Kannywood mourns Fadila Mohammed -In August, the Hausa movie-making industry mourned the demise of popular actress Fadila Mohammed also known as Lollipop. She died after a protracted illness in Kaduna, where she lived with her parents.
Non-Hausa businessman donated N600 million to support Kannywood -Earlier in the year, Kannywood got a boost from a non-Hausa business man, Jack-Rich, who supported the industry with a cash donation of N600 million naira.
A top Kannywood actor and producer, Nuhu Abdullahi who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES said “I can tell you Mr. Jack-Rich did not only support the industry with ₦600 million, he also promised to keep supporting us any other ways he can.”
El-Rufai donated a plot of land, N100 million to Kannywood -Also earlier in the year, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State donated a piece of land to support the industry, as he pledged to contribute ₦100 million when work starts on the plot of the land. A cinema is to be built on the land.
Rahama Sadau’s picture controversy -In November, Kannywood actress Rahama Sadau stirred a serious debate after posting a picture of herself on her social media pages. In the picture, the actress wore a stylishly blended dress with an open back trimmed to fit her buttocks.
The outfit caused a backslash and heated debate from fans on her social media pages.
While some of her fans insisted she should not have posted a picture of her dressed that way on her pages, saying as a Muslim, she should not be encouraging indecency, others saw nothing wrong in the dress, saying the actress chose to wear what she was comfortable in.
The debate became so hot that the actress had to comment and subsequently deleted the picture and comments from her pages. She then apologised for her action that ignited the debate.
She said, “It’s sad and unfortunate waking up to series of unexpected messages, tags & trends over the harmless pictures I posted. As a human, I laughed at some, frowned against many & disapproved most. To the most unfortunate event, some of these comments took a different dimension.”
Di’Ja makes acting debut -Mavin Records artiste, Hadiza Blell, popularly known as Di’Ja, landed her debut acting role in a Kannywood movie titled Mati A Zazzau in January. Di’ja starred alongside actor Sadiq Sani Sadiq in a lead role.
The film is a sequel to the 2014 Kannywood hit comedy movie, Mati Da Lado. It is a comical film about two brothers, Sadiq and Lado, who went about different villages pretending to be Islamic clerics and scamming people in the process.
Dog plays lead role in Zaharaddeen Sani’s film -Kannywood’s Zaharadden Sani, popularly called Kannywood Macho Man, featured his trained dog in a movie released earlier in the year. Interestingly, it was the first time Kannywood would see a film that would feature a dog as the lead actor.
Sani said he always wanted to do something different in Kannywood.
He told PREMIUM TIMES during the premiere of the film in November that “I always wanted to do something different in everything I do. If you remember, I was the one who did the first movie depicting Boko Haram atrocities (Abu Hassan). This time around, I am coming with another one, I am going to use a dog as a lead actor in my new film, titled (Haduwar Hanya).”