By NKECHI CHIMA-ONYELE
They are marvelous to behold. Delectable, hard working and talented, Nollywood twins, Chidiebere and Chidinma Aneke have carved a place for themselves in the industry. The actresses cum producers have over 18 movies to their credit. The Enugu-based acts stormed Lagos recently to celebrate their birthday with the less privilege as well as release a new movie, National Experience and National Service. In an encounter with
The Entertainer, they talked about their lives as producers and actresses, why they keep male rather than female friends, why they don’t hunt producers for roles, and their upcoming epic movies among other issues. Enjoy it: You just celebrated your birthday, how old are you? We added a year this August but we promise to tell you our age on our wedding day. Why did you choose to celebrate in Lagos instead of Enugu where you reside?
We already had plans to be in Lagos for the preparation of our new movie, which would come out soon. We decided to celebrate our birthday in Lagos to enable our fans here partake from what others in the east have been enjoying. You released another blockbuster movie, The Light and The Eyes recently, what were the challenges you encountered during the production? Most drivers do plan with others to rob their passengers, so it is imperative for transport companies to carry out thorough research before employing their drivers.
It is advisable for them to know their drivers background. Though, we didn’t encounter many challenges except the usual mosquito bites in the bush. You featured Iyabo Ojo in the movie, what is your relationship with her? She is our very good friend not just a colleague. She is our sister from another mother. We usually pray to God with the names of our cast before producing a movie and if God says you are the one, we don’t doubt Him.
If you watch the movie you will discover that she gave us the best, you will see her in a character that’s well interpreted. And everybody is attesting to it. How much does it take to shoot a movie? It depends on the script you are working on and the cast involved or the kind of camera you want to use. Honestly, you can’t place a particular figure on a movie until after production. How many movies have you produced so far? We have produced more than 18 movies including Onoja, Personal Desire, Desperate Soul, Jealous Friend, Revenge of the Gods, Compulsory Risk, Ujuaku the Tigress, Sister’s Face,
The Eye and The Light, National Experience and National Service among others. Right now, we are preparing to release our new movie, National Experience and National Service. I remember during my youth service, it was very obvious that most corpers didn’t get to the place of their primary assignment while some didn’t do what they were asked to do; rather they indulged in prostitution and other vices such as robbery, kidnapping and cyber-crime. I actually served in Ibadan and the primary purpose of National Youth Service is to inculcate discipline in the youth by instilling in them a culture of industry, patriotism and loyalty.
But I discovered that just few of the corpers followed the principles of the NYSC. Secondly, we found out that the bad habits displayed by the youth emanated from the homes. Some parents don’t care about their children rather they devote more time to wealth creation. They don’t care to know what their children do behind their back, either in school or during the NYSC. Who wrote the examination including those expensive handsets and clothes their children bring back home? This attitude has to be corrected and that is why we’ve decided to shoot a movie on it so that parents would dissuade their children from such ungodly acts.
Which movie are you working on now? It is an epic movie, which we intend to shoot in the East but we would not give you the working title now until it is released. Though, it is an olden day story, it is a true life story. How soon would you release National Experience? The movie will be released any moment from now.
We don’t have a specific date because we leave God to direct us. The movie featured notable stars like Mama G, Iyabo Ojo, Abraham Nwodo, Chidinma and Chidiebere, and Ijeoma Chukwura among others. It was shot in Enugu. Which movie would you say gave you financial breakthrough? “The path of the just is like a shining light that shines more, more”. We cannot say that our yesterday is better than our today but each time we released a movie, it makes waves and we realize profits. For instance, The Eye and The Light is really making waves in the market.
In fact, if it not profitable we would have stopped producing movies but God has been so merciful and we give him the glory. You are young and aspiring ladies, how were you able to have a breakthrough against all odds. It is by the grace of God. He said that He is the father of the fatherless. The earth is of the Lord and the fullness thereof so whatever we want we go to Him in prayer. Secondly, when He gives you a vision, He backs it up with a testimony.
If it’s not His vision, it would not work. So, we are a step away from our destiny. Our prayer everyday is for God to lead us in the right path without mistakes. When did you lose your father and what are the things you missed most about him? We lost our father in 1998. Since then, we’ve missed all his fatherly love. But I miss all his disciplinarian actions. I remember whenever he saw us hanging around downstairs (we lived upstairs) he would cane us so badly. He always takes us out to catch fun as well as do some shopping.
In fact, my father imbibed in us the culture of wearing a uniform dress and we have grown with it. How many are you in the family? My father had three wives. In all, we are 10 children, six boys and four girls in the family. But from my mother side, we are two boys and three girls. The first wife has two boys while the third wife had two boys and a girl, though she is late. We love ourselves, there is nothing like envy or jealousy in the family. My elder brother is a movie marketer in Aba.
When our father died, some people were scared that the family would separate. Though, people tried, it didn’t work because the bond our late father built in us lives forever. What is your relationship with the governor of Enugu State? We are daughters from Enugu State and we appreciate our governor’s fatherly care.
He is like a father to us and he appreciates our level of intelligence and hard work. Once you have such virtue, you would be able to gain his closeness and you also learn from him because he despises laziness with a passion. We must confess that he is a very good man. In the movie, Sister’s Face, you played twins sisters who deceived and played on their husbands’ intelligence by sleeping with each one of them. So, have you in real life cheated on your boyfriends? No, we have not done such. It is just a movie, so they are different from us.
We cannot share our men. In fact, we will guard them jealously. If I am dating a guy and he later tells me that he wants to date my sister, no matter the kind of love we share, it dies that minute because we don’t do it. For the movie you referred to, we got embarrassed by a woman at the market who called Chidinma a very wicked girl for sleeping with her sister’s husband. In fact, it took people’s intervention to convince the woman that it was just a movie.
Would you make love to a man as twins? No! God forbid. Our man is our separate property that we cannot share. Are you in any relationship? Most of our friends are guys instead of girls because they have business ideas. Concerning if we have boyfriends? No! We don’t have boyfriends, if we have, you would have seen them at our birthday cutting the cake with us. Right now, we are not in any relationship but we have special friends.
How do you handle your male admirers? Whenever any man admires us because of our movies, we accept them as platonic friends, friends without intimacy. Are you saying suitors are not coming? They are coming; we would not lie to you. We don’t want to eat any man’s money after praying and getting confirmation from God that he’s not the will of God for our lives. You don’t have to get married because your friends are getting married.
You will live to regret it for the rest of your life. Once you make such mistake, it is forever. Our mother didn’t marry our father and then divorced him so why would we leave our husbands after marriage? If eventually we get married and we are told that our husbands are having an affair with other women, it would bother us because they have given us the certificates of marriage. But if he is traveling, we will give him condoms for safety. Whatever he is doing outside would not be our business though it is not easy, it the surest way to guide a marriage with an unfaithful husband. You don’t expect him to change to your desired man in a second; you have to work it out.
This is why some of our colleagues in the industry are having crashed marriages. When they are getting married, they will tell you he is the nicest man, and tomorrow he has become a devil. Why don’t you make your homework? Don’t you think you may lose your husband to another woman? You would only lose him when you continue to go through his phones to keep details of his calls and messages. Though, it is not easy, we will pamper our husbands in such a way that they would not look at any other woman by the grace of God. Who is your Ideal man?
We pray for a man with consent to conquer our fears because there is no way he would hurt us, and above all, a man with the fear of God. You are so close to each other; does it mean you don’t quarrel? We hate quarreling with people but we cannot do without quarreling among us. In fact, we were quarreling before you came and immediately you leave, we would continue from where we stopped. And we also argue a lot though we settle our differences immediately to enable us discuss present issues.
We settle our differences rather than wait for someone to settle it for us, not even our mother settle our differences. You always wear same clothes do you also wear the same under wears? Yes! You can have a look at our under wears for proof after all you are a woman like us (laughter). When we go shopping, we also buy same pants. In fact, we collectively choose the clothes and under wears we wear for the day. You hardly feature in movies produced by others, are you facing difficulties in getting roles from other producers? No, we believe that God assigns every role we get; we don’t go after roles instead we are contented with the ones we get and it is the reason why we don’t have any problem with any artiste like the way others do.
What is your message to young ladies who are aspiring for greatness in life? They should always believe in themselves. You don’t need to sell your body to be achievers or get the good things of life. We have elastic brains, you can start a business with little amount of money and God will direct you to your destiny. Prostitution is not good, you are not supposed to be selling your body, it is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Although, sometimes we do sin against God because we are not married but selling your body is not worth it. Ladies should not be carried away by the kind of clothes their friends wear or cars they ride, all fingers are not equal. Just live a life that is worthy of emulation
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