Charles Novia
Filmmaker responds to reports that late Muna Obiekwe was a heavy drinker
"How a man smokes and drinks should not be anyone’s worries" -
Charles Novia. Read film-maker's tribute to late Muna Obiekwe.
Following the death of talented Nollywood actor, Muna Obiekwe, reports surfaced online that the actor was a heavy drinker, and also smoked alot.
Nollywood Filmmaker, Charles Novia, in an article titled "Muna Obiekwe and a Less Lived Life", wrote on the untimely death of the young actor.
Charles also wrote on reports that he was a heavy drinker "How a man smokes and drinks should not be anyone’s worries".
The 'Alan Poza' producer also condemned the release of his death-bed photos. Read his full tribute;
I
never really met him nor knew him personally but I admired his acting
skills on-screen whenever I watched the movies he featured in. He was an
actor who had a panache beyond comparison in many of his roles. I
always thought he was damned good.
That
he is dead is a sad reality. That he died at all when he lived and still
lives in our hearts and on our screens is the painful jolt to our
systems. Because in Nollywood, actors (and good ones too, in Muna’s
mould) never really die. They only transcend to another place where,
perhaps, the ovation they receive over there gives lasting peace to
their souls.
What can one really say
about Muna? I never knew much about him and perhaps many people did not
as well. He seemed to live a life less glimpsed in personal details than
that more appreciated on the television screens. He seemed to me to be a
recluse.
And I might be wrong here but
when one reads his body language with the benefit of hindsight, one
could begin to piece together a deliberate insulation by the gifted
actor from the public eye. And there is nothing wrong with that. Many
talented creatives all over the world are like that.
But
Muna’s case stands out because it seemed like our nosey and sensational
entertainment press just could not get anything on him. There were few
stories or scandals about him and more reviews about his body of work
which is quite the hallmark of an artiste who exploits a mystique around
him.
He kept his life private and
perhaps, that privacy was as much a tragic flaw as it was a commendable
decision, depending on how one views it. He shunned selfies and
self-serving instagram posts about material acquisitions. He could well
have lied, as most of his colleagues do about his material wealth, just
to ‘belong’. But he kept it real. He did. I respect that.
I
have read some reports on his death online and while the veracity of
such is yet to be final on my part, there were tales of his battle with
Kidney Disease for a few years and his weekly Dialysis treatments which
he hid from the public all these years and known only to his close
family.
It was reported that he shunned
all entreaties by those in the know to raise funds for him through a
public appeal and preferred to plan a stage show which would have helped
him out of the medical financial demands.
If
that was indeed true, it was quite unfortunate. Because I believe there
would be few souls who would not have donated to a Save Muna fund, if
only to help in giving the actor a second lease of life.
Other
reports say that he was a heavy drinker of hard liquor and smoked a
lot and there were assertions that these must have caused his health
issues.
There’s nothing much to say about
that. Artistes generally imbibe in habits which act as a counterbalance
to the demands of their jobs. How a man smokes and drinks should not be
anyone’s worries. It is the self-moderation switch in the artiste which
should be scrutinized when such happens rather than what he does in his
leisure.
There was no doubt that Muna
was a great actor. But he came across, to me, as one who had more of a
brooding disposition all the time off camera than one with a happy mien.
He
was more of a mystery as a soft-spoken actor with a scowl and while
that attribute in a better clime would have added to his personal brand
power, over here it (that mystery about him) alienated him somehow from
the fawning fans.
I find it personally
distasteful that someone, and someone perhaps consumed by grief or
tactlessness, could release the pictures of his last dying moments
online. To prove what point?
That he was
really dead? That he indeed was in a coma before he died? It was the
most dishonourable thing to his memory to show him sprawled on a car
seat, unconscious. In these days of social media, where pictures never
disappear, those final pictures are what would be used to remember him
more than others.
Muna was a damn good actor, really! And I do not think his death is a closing of the final curtains of his act.
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