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SUNDAY VANGUARD, FEBRUARY 28, 2021, PAGE13<br />
No limitations in<br />
•Aramide Ottun<br />
my dictionary<br />
—Aramide Ottun<br />
Aramide Damilola Ottun is a budding Yoruba actress blessed with both brain and<br />
beauty. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration from the University<br />
of Lagos. She’s a producer of two films, namely; Public Toilet and 1 O’Clock. She<br />
has also featured in many films, among which are: Legal Wife, Igbese Kan, Corpers’<br />
Lodge, Bangles and many others.<br />
In this interview with AYO ONIKOYI, she speaks on her journey into Nollywood,<br />
the industry and other things that shaped her life.<br />
•Aramide Ottun<br />
MultiChoice to air highlights from BBNaija season 5 from March 1<br />
MultiChoice Nigeria is set<br />
to air highlights from<br />
BBNaija Season 5 from<br />
Monday, March 1, till Friday,<br />
March 26, 2021, on Africa Magic<br />
Urban (DStv channel 153) and<br />
Africa Magic Family (DStv<br />
channel 154 & GOtv channel 2) at<br />
10pm.<br />
BBNaija lovers will have another<br />
opportunity to relive some of the<br />
best moments of the BBNaija<br />
Lockdown edition, six months<br />
after the epic grand finale which<br />
saw Olamilekan “Laycon”<br />
Agbeleshe emerge winner. The<br />
highlight episodes will also get<br />
fans primed and excited for the<br />
upcoming Reunion show of the<br />
season.<br />
BBNaija continues to be a TV<br />
•BBNaija Laycon and Nengi<br />
The beginning<br />
Acting has always been a thing of<br />
interest to me right from my primary<br />
school days. I used to call friends<br />
around to mimic them. Friends would<br />
gather around me during the break<br />
time to watch me put a smile on their<br />
faces and sometimes I got a free lunch<br />
doing so. Then it was something I did<br />
for fun not knowing it was a calling.<br />
Watching myself do what I enjoy doing<br />
on TV brings tears of joy and a feeling of<br />
fulfillment. Thanks to the likes of my<br />
mentor Antar Laniyan who made it possible<br />
for me to start professionally.<br />
Challenges<br />
The major challenge as a producer is sourcing<br />
for funds. Other challenges include looking for<br />
sponsors, trying to find characters that best suit<br />
your imagination as well as welfare and<br />
logistics involving the cast and crew. I started<br />
as a nobody, loads of things were thrown at me.<br />
I remember one producer telling me I wasn’t<br />
good enough. A colleague also told me I was<br />
wasting my time. Hard work and persistence<br />
got me this far. I once got that producer and that<br />
colleague to work with me on my own project. I<br />
am sure they must have forgotten what they said<br />
but those words motivated me, it made me grow a<br />
thick skin. The past motivates me to work on my<br />
present. And to my mentors and guardians, I will<br />
forever be grateful.<br />
Low and high moments<br />
The highest point of my career so far was taking a bold<br />
step to produce my own movie. It wasn’t easy at all. I<br />
repeat, it wasn’t easy at all for me. And the low point<br />
was when I started getting disappointments from<br />
people, the gossips and small talks plus lack of<br />
investors. I nearly had a heart attack when royalties<br />
weren’t coming in as expected but I got to understand<br />
the industry during my second production. Thanks to<br />
God, I got more than I imagined. The lesson learnt was<br />
never to put your trust and hope on people and always<br />
have a plan B for every Plan A. What will be will<br />
always be but never have the mind of going through<br />
the back door. No short cut to success. God is always<br />
the way out.<br />
phenomenon in Nigeria and across<br />
Africa. The Lockdown edition set the<br />
record for the number of votes cast with<br />
900 million votes recorded during the<br />
show and over 60 billion impressions on<br />
digital. The edition also broke the<br />
Showmax live-streaming record,<br />
becoming the most-watched live<br />
entertainment content ever on the<br />
streaming service.<br />
Fans of the reality TV show will enjoy<br />
up to 40 episodes, containing their<br />
favourite and most memorable moments<br />
from the Lockdown edition. BBNaija<br />
Lockdown Highlights will air on Africa<br />
Magic Urban (DStv channel 153) and<br />
Africa Magic Family (DStv channel 154 &<br />
GOtv channel 2) from 10pm till 11pm<br />
daily, available to customers on DStv<br />
Premium, Compact Plus, Compact,<br />
Confam, Yanga and GOtv Max and Jolli.<br />
On sex, relationship and marriage<br />
Sex should be when you want to start breeding, like<br />
having kids. Marriage should be when you are mentally<br />
ready for what marriage entails and relationship is about<br />
preparing your body, soul and mind for marriage and sex.<br />
Life is in circles, those three are real circles of life.<br />
Sexiness<br />
To be sexy is to be confident, smart, well mannered and<br />
neatly dressed. Yes, a woman should flaunt her<br />
endowment when she can.<br />
Social media<br />
Social media has shown me what is to come in the<br />
movie industry and how prepared I should be. Many<br />
actors and actresses are coming up with no one way style<br />
of acting and I have to be on that side of diversity.<br />
Producers, content creators, scriptwriters and directors<br />
are out there showcasing new style of filming plus acting.<br />
Now is about taking advantage of each opportunity,<br />
learning from what others are putting up, working and<br />
avoiding a repetition of their own errors when I am<br />
putting out my own stuff. Social media has shown me that<br />
the movie industry is not what it used to be.<br />
Limitations<br />
There’s no limitation in my dictionary as an actress. I go<br />
all hard and out. There’s no role I can’t take on and<br />
interpret very well. I’m here to win now and always.<br />
Selling points<br />
My dedication, passion and determination are my<br />
selling points. Understanding scripts, interpreting them<br />
so well and respecting people are parts of my selling<br />
points and, so far so good, it has brought me this far. They<br />
will tell you “Aramide Ottun is dedicated, loyal,<br />
respectful, gives you 100% attention on set and yes she<br />
interprets her scripts so well”.<br />
Feminism<br />
Feminists are a bunch of myopic, self-centered,<br />
mediocre ladies.<br />
Heartbreaks<br />
It’s like saying or asking you why do human drink<br />
water. Show me a man or a woman that’s not got his or<br />
her heart broken before. We all have been to the<br />
island of heart breaks. Some still live there but I<br />
went on a visit, though the journey wasn’t fine.<br />
But thank God I am here today, stronger and<br />
much beautiful in the inside than outside.<br />
Lucrativeness of acting<br />
It’s lucrative when you master your craft<br />
through hard work and understand the<br />
Nigerian film industry. First, you need to know<br />
you will have lots of sleepless nights. Second,<br />
fear of the unknown, it is the number one<br />
downside of working and not getting it right<br />
but if you get it right you get the pay. Before<br />
acting can be lucrative it entails a lot of hard<br />
work, determination, focus and stability. One<br />
can become an `A’ list for producers, content<br />
creators, companies looking for brand<br />
ambassadors to push out their brand and of<br />
course, in some cases marketers might demand<br />
your appearance based on fans requests and<br />
you know what that means:- more money. With<br />
that I am sure bills get paid .
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