The English language, without a doubt, is our lingua franca in Nigeria, amidst a backdrop of some 250 diverse ethnic groups who choose to communicate in their mother tongue. Movies have been a part of our lives since their inception in August 1903 in the Glover Memorial Hall. Over the years, foreign films have dominated the Nigerian film market and flooded our television screens. In the 1970s and 1980s, Indian and Chinese films had a firm grip on the film market, especially due to the fact that although the actors spoke in their mother tongue, we were still able to follow the trends thanks to good subtitling techniques. The British with the James Bond 007 movies fought against those movies. However, from the 1990s to the present, I have witnessed a dramatic shift in preference for Hollywood films based not only on the use of the English language as a medium of communication, but also on broader genres, storylines crusaders, personification of all effects, with state-of-the-art technology at your disposal.
Nollywood generally accepts movies shot in the English, Yoruba, and Hausa languages, regardless of the differences that some have opined exist, which praises only movies made in English to be under the purview of Nollywood. Even the films produced by the Hausa people have been made under the auspices of Kannywood (which they refer to as their own film industry), which of course is a rather absurd and erroneous belief. Nollywood represents the entire film industry within the territorial jurisdiction of Nigeria and it is absurd for people to subtly create distinctive platforms for Yoruba/Hausa productions.
Films produced in English sell quickly due to the fact that they are produced in our lingua franca, which most Nigerians can understand. They are also exported to other English-speaking African countries, North America, and parts of Europe. As a result, the audience base is huge unlike those produced in indigenous languages. Yoruba films have been on display since the 1970s/80s, but their films are restricted to those who are indigenous Yoruba or non-Yoruba who understand the language. Imagine producing a movie for a single tribe instead of 200+, certainly only those who can speak the language will buy it, plus poor subtitles on movies make it very difficult to follow the story line.
Yoruba-language films have the highest amount of production compared to films made in other indigenous languages and closely follow English-language ones. Their stories powerfully reflect their culture, traditional beliefs and heritage, the messages of which would not be effectively conveyed if produced in English. The only way they can recoup their investments and enjoy a broader audience base while maintaining their indigenous language stream is to ensure good subtitling as seen in Chinese and Bollywood movies. Faulty subtitles have been the bane of the problem, as most Yoruba (as they are loosely called) movies have a high level of subtitle flaws, including incomplete subtitled dialogue. This easily discourages non-natives who watch the movies and don’t understand the language.
Good effective subtitles are the hallmark of Bollywood movies. It is rare to see a Bollywood movie purely spoken in English. They believe in using their indigenous language to effectively get the message home. An ardent believer in the indigenous school of thought for film productions in Nigeria is Nollywood legend Tunde Kelani, the pioneer of main frame productions. Over the years, he has utilized his wealth of film-making experience to produce outstanding films using the Yoruba language. His insistence on sticking to the use of the indigenous language stems from his cultural background that influenced his childhood and growing up years.
He believes that the Yoruba culture would soon become extinct, especially with the use of the English language and the lifestyle mainly adopted by this generation, relegating the Yoruba language and culture to the background. He believes that you can’t speak the English language better than the English/Americans themselves, so why bother making films in English? However, he adopts good subtitling techniques so that the non-Yoruba Indians will understand them. The younger generation of filmmakers have also followed his lead, such as Kunle Afolayan (Irapada, The Figurine, Araromire (Mix Yoruba and English), Daniel Ademinokan (Omo Iya Kan).
Despite the presence of subtitles, most viewers are unwilling to watch movies produced in the indigenous language compared to those in English. It is worth noting that films using indigenous languages have begun to make an impact in the US, Europe and at the Oscars. The millionaire suburban dog attests to that. Bollywood does not compromise its display of indigenous language that has become its trademark. It’s not the language that really counts, but the combination of all the relevant elements needed to produce an amazing film. At the end of the day, it’s really a matter of choice open to the filmmakers, deciding which of the languages would engage the audience and powerfully convey the theme of the story to them.
Through languages, messages are effectively communicated to the recipient. Whatever language the filmmaker decides to use, the most important thing is to ask whether the theme, the plot, the essence of the production, will ultimately be understood and appreciated by the many viewers. When you are satisfied that this is the case, then you should produce the same thing in the language of your choice, regardless of what others may think or say. After all, what counts at the end of the day is the return on investments, the popularity of the film and the achievements recorded.
