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| Ramsey Nouah |
Prolific actor, Ramsey Nouah, is not only an interviewer’s delight, he’s viewers’ delight too. He’s transformed to be many things in many movies but chief of all is the ‘lover boy’ role which he plays with astounding ease. He speaks about his career, marriage and more in this interview with the New Telegraph
Excerpts
Tell us about the movie ’76’
‘76’ is a highly celebrated movie and it is doing very well in the cinemas. It has gone to almost all the movie festivals you can think of around the world. It is top ranked in cinemas based on the fact people always thought only comedy movies can sell better in the Nigerian cinemas. But ‘76’ is a genre of thriller and it is doing well in the cinemas among its peers.
There was a lot of works that went down in making the movie. For me to be a soldier in the movie, I had to go through three months of rigorous military training to get into that military state of mind.
Were the rigours not overwhelming while the rehearsals lasted?
I never felt like giving up. We received a proper drill from a sergeant. We were drilled mercilessly. We complained but not to give up. At some point I shouted at the sergeant that I am an actor and not a soldier.
It was said that the movie was shot in 2012 and was released in 2016, why did it take that long?
As a matter of fact, the job itself took about six to seven years. It took two years of pre-production. Before we got the support of the military to shoot the movie, it took a while. For you to get the story right, you have to pick the story from virtually all the perspectives.
The citizens at that time; the direct family of the person you are going to film about. We are talking about Murtala Mohammed. The military had their perspective of the story and we needed it all to come together for it to make sense and come to a reasonable conclusion on how you want to tell the story. All that took a long while. The first chief of Army Staff refused blatantly.
The second chief of Army Staff was the one that approved before we could proceed. That was for pre productions. We shot in Mokola Barracks in Ibadan for six months. We were working against many things that have to do with time.
For instance, we are talking about 1976 when there was no GSM not to talk of MTN, no coloured television. You can imagine shooting and at the background you have a kid that is wearing an MTN branded shirt.
What scene was your best in ‘76’?
There are so many scenes I like in ‘76 but the one I like most was where the producer cum actor who was the military police that came and caught us, he is Captain Ijaye. I loved the line where he said, “You heard something, you saw something and you said nothing”. It is one the lines that I find quite attractive.
Would you say the movie made your understanding of the past better?
Well I didn’t know the story until I got involved in the movie. I just knew the story about the assassination of our head of state in 1976 like everybody else but the integral part of the story, most people don’t know it.
I didn’t know it until I got involved in the project. The film didn’t totally dwell on the assassination of Murtala Mohammed. It just had a bit of it. The story centered on the struggle of the soldiers and their families.
Do you mean there are still parts of the story that can be explored?
We didn’t really shoot the story behind Murtala Mohammed. So it is still very pending. It is the soldiers behind the plotting of the coup. The story was about the low rank soldiers involved and what their families went through when they were found guilty of treason.
How did you see the mustache costume they put on you?
I didn’t have a problem with it. They carry mustache a lot back in the days, so I had to look the part. They were supposed to put the mustache and an afro hair but for some reason, the wig wasn’t sitting down properly. The wig was not looking natural so we had to make do with my hair.
Aside movies what have you been up to lately?
I have been spending time with my family. Whenever the need arises, I do humanitarian stuffs. It has been film, family and giving back to the society.
Have you not been scared of the number of marriages crashing in the society, especially among your movie peers?
Marriage unlike how most people see it, also unlike what is going on now, it is in the grasp of the woman. But these days, a lot of marriages are based on equality. A woman wants to get 50 percent of whatever she is giving into the marriage back from the man.
It is leading to a lot of breaks in marriages. From time our mothers used to be the women that held their marriages. They were in charge of the home. Our mothers took charge of everything but today, women don’t want that kind of responsibility.
Hence, it is affecting them. My wife belongs to the category of ‘our mothers’. She believes in holding a marriage and holding it strong. So whenever I am asked how we have been able to keep it together. I tell them my wife is the woman who has actually held our home.
Does this mean she paddles the destiny of your marriage?
She doesn’t have a place because she owns the home. It’s her call however way she wants things done. She is the drive of the family. Her decision is final. That is why I say she is not an ordinary woman. She is a triple woman.
When some people ask me ‘how does your wife cope when she sees you kissing other women in the movie?” and I tell them that my wife is special. She is not an ordinary woman. She understands things in a way many other women don’t. That is why I say, you as an actor, you have to find that special person.
It is not love that will bond you. Forget love, love dies. What sustains the marriage is companionship. If you cannot find companionship in your partner from the beginning, then you do not have a partner. Don’t lust after a woman because of her beauty and don’t lust after a guy because he is handsome.
You must lust after the companionship that bonds you together. It should be like ‘for some reasons you cannot do without her; for some reasons there is something about her that brings you home.’
It may be her sense of humour; or the way she keeps the home. Same thing applies for the ladies, there must be something about him that you cannot do without. If this quality is not there, then you don’t have a companion.
Don’t get me wrong, don’t think that we don’t have our time or that we don’t have a moment of disagreement, we do. But it depends on the way we handle it. Women cannot stand the hit in the kitchen anymore, they want to run.
That is why marriages are crumbling. A lot people don’t want to work hard anymore, because marriage is hard work. So when you talk about marriages crashing, it’s not my call. The only problem that I have to make sure I provide food for the family.
Back to your years of adolescence, was there a career you would have wished you were into or a business you would have loved to do?
I wanted to be an aeronautic engineer. I wanted to build planes. Unfortunately I never did sciences in class and I went to art.
You could not pass mathematic?
Yes, mathematics was terrible. I would have loved to be a pilot or be in the airforce.
You have been married for 15 years now, what advice do you give to some of your colleagues in the industry who find themselves in a situation of marriage break up?
Nobody gives advice when it comes to matters of the heart. People say they are going for counseling and all but at the end, it is what is in their heart is still what they want to do.
Because those things in your heart are laced with emotions and emotions are very hard to tackle. When you have emotion that is full of jealousy, hate or anger, it is hard to break it until you exercise it.
That is why when your dad screams ‘do not follow that boy’ the teenager does not listen until she has satisfied what her heart desires from the boy. Most times, you learn by experience. Companionship is not easy.
When everybody is running into marriages as if marriage wants to go out of fashion, take your time and be ready for it. Be ready to a c c e p t someone with his flaws. My wife has her problems, me, I have mine. A lot of it actually and I know. You must be able to accommodate the other person.
Do you think ego problem of today’s women is mostly the cause of many crashed marriages?
When a woman believes she earns more than the man and so the man should start doing the work of a woman like sweeping, changing diaper of a baby, where is the balance in the marriage? There is no sense in that.
A woman’s place should not change; same applies t the place of the man. I am not expecting a woman to overwork herself with house chores. I help and support my wife when there is no help in the house. I sweep when I have the time.
So you sweep, do you also wash dishes and cook?
Yes I do. I cooked two days before having this interview. I am a great cook. The thing is that everyone now has the perspective of wanting to live larger than life, forgetting the reality. We keep forgetting that if we don’t do it, who will do it? We have help, but these days you are scared of what they can do. At some point my wife got tired of helps. We have three kids at home and we have to fend for them.
I cannot leave everything for her, so I help. Sometimes we tell the kids to wash their plates. At some point I looked up and realiyed that my child cannot sweep. 12 and 13 years old cannot sweep which is very wrong. So we started forcing them to clean after them.
Most of the people that grew up in the 80s when things started getting bad for Nigeria, had the mentality and swore that the sufferings we went through that our children won’t go through them but in the process we have spoilt our kids’ lives. Most kids these days cannot sweep, clean. All they want to do is do their nails, make their hair and carry big phones and tablets.
Were you rebellious while growing up?
No I wasn’t. My mother instil discipline into me. I was very playful and I always got into trouble. My mother thought me that my pride as a man is my ability to differentiate between right and wrong. That is why I cannot handle many people at the same time because I cannot sweet talk. I am not very diplomatic.
Are you romantic?
Don’t use the movie to judge me. I don’t think I am Romantic. My wife does not think I am that romantic.
Many people wonder why you do not take your wife to red carpet events with you
My wife and I have an understanding. And this is one of the reasons our marriage is still strong till tomorrow. We avoid the public eye because the public have a way of messing up relationships.
Sometime, my wife goes ahead of me into the event, so we don’t do red carpet. It is the same people that harass you of not taking your wife to red carpet event that will sit back and point fingers at how you look.
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