Nollywood Yoruba actor, Adewale Alebiosu, has revealed how badly his flat role of being a herbalist in most films affected him.
In an intensive interview with BBC Yoruba, he stated that he is not a wicked person or a herbalist in real life but people often misjudge him.
He said he learnt the role just like every other person including incantations.
Adewale said he was born into a muslim family but he converted into Christianity after he got into trance while drumming in a church and has since been going to church.
He said he feels that the gods are angry with him because the ones he trained in the job are making success stories while he’s stuck.
According to him, some of the incantations he had recited had haunted him in the closed door behind the camera. He warned the younger generation about certain roles in the industry.
He said, “People often think of me as a native doctor. This is not the case. I’ve never been a native doctor, and neither has my father. When I first started acting, which I learned from Taiwo Balogun, I loved incantations.
“After I left him, I met with one of my bosses, Fatai Adetayo Oodua. That was when I started using incantations. Filmmakers were the ones who made people start to ask why it was solely the native doctor roles I was being given.
“Acting shaped people’s perception of me as a wicked man. I’m not that dangerous. My parents are both Muslims.
“I was born a Muslim, until when a church was doing a harvest service and they didn’t have a drummer.
“The congregation pointed to me as someone who is into theatre and drums as well. They started singing and I was drumming, but my head began to swell. I didn’t know when I fell to the ground and started sprawling.
“It was when I got out of the trance that people told me what happened. That was how I became a minister of God. All those incantations you see in films, I don’t do anything beyond that. It’s just acting; even my elders know this.
“If I get to the church, I do church activities as well. There are times when we as actors utter incantations without knowing that there are hidden meanings & powers behind those words.
“I never knew there was so much more to the incantations I was delivering. I thought I was just delivering my lines, not knowing there are repercussions to follow. Whenever I get home after the act, while I sleep I would see some strange beings, and some would turn to goats and start biting me.
“I’m saying this to warn them so that they don’t end up regretting their lives or ending up miserably.
“Actors who want to play traditional priests and native doctors should pray fervently. When I’m called on set, the filmmakers see I came in a bike or taxi.
“They start asking if I have no car of my own. I tell them I don’t and they are shocked. They feel pity for me. But the words I hear from them hurt me. Those I trained have become wealthy. If I offended gods, he should forgive me.”
