Calabash | 25 September 2010 04:18 CET

R-e-v-e-a-l-e-d! Controversy trails cost of Afolayan’s Figurine

By Benjamin Njoku

Kunle Afolayan's multiple-award winning movie, “Figurine” is rated as one of the big budget movies that came out of Nollywood and indeed, Africa this year .

Afolayan was once quoted as putting the total cost of producing the block-bluster at N50 million. But a contrary account last weekend debunked this claim, maintaining that the wave-making film couldn't have been produced with anything more than N3.million.

An inside source who dropped this bombshell said the highest paid actor in that movie was Ramsey Nouah, who was paid N800,000, followed by the cinematographer who got N500,000.

The rest of the cast, according to our source, were paid next to nothing. “Afolayan couldn't have produced the classic film with anything above N3.million,” the source snapped.

Alleging further, the source said contrary to Afolayan's claim of hiring CNN's 35mm camera to shoot the film, the actor-cum- producer brought a less expensive camera during that period to shoot the film.

The source also added that the production of the film was supported by the two companies, GSK makers of Lucozade Boost, MicCom Golf Hotels and Resorts, which he said used the movie as a platform to showcase their product and services.

However, the source commended Afolayen's dexterity and artistic excellence, saying that despite the low budget, the film came out a hit, carting away five awards during this year's edition of African Movie Academy Awards(AMAA).

Starring Ramsey Nouah, Kunle Afolayan, Omoni Oboli and Funlola Aofiyebi, “Figurine” is Afolyan's second movie after “Irapada.” Its quality is largely a result of the impeccable audio-visuals and attentive performance by the actors.

Also, shooting with sophisticated equipment boosted the production of the film which deals with the human belief and nature and is already generating a lot of debate across board since its premiere in the cinemas.

Other sites The Nigerian Voice