Over the weekend, the Ramsey Nouah-directed crime drama, Tòkunbò premiered on Netflix, and like every self-respecting film lover, I grabbed my snacks, sunk into my couch and watched it, while ignoring the mountain of work I had.
It was an enjoyable and heartfelt watch when I wasn’t busy wondering where Gideon Okeke and Ivie Okujaye had been. However, one more question kept hovering in my mind – What’s with Nollywood and crime these days?
Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry and the third biggest movie industry in the world, churns out large volumes of film every year and recently, the entire Nollywood and Nigeria entertainment scene celebrated when a Nollywood film made over a billion Naira in the cinemas.
We have certainly come a long way from the home video era. Now, we’re in the blockbuster and streaming era, thanks to platforms like Netflix, Prime and Showmax.
But if you’ve been following Nollywood for quite some time, you would realise that the amount of crime dramas Nollywood produces has been ever-increasing and now, by my calculations, over half of the films we make these days have themes deeply rooted in crime or at least have a slice of crime in them. It doesn’t matter if it’s a romance like The Department, a family drama like A Tribe Called Judah, or a comedy like Sugar Rush, crime seems to be the one constant thing in our films these days. So, it’s safe to say that Nollywood is a crime scene, literally!
And it has been this way since 2015 when we witnessed the beauty of Walt Banger’s Gbomo Gbomo Express, which featured the usual suspects, Ramsey Nouah, Osas Ighodaro and Gideon Okeke, with Ikechukwu, whose debut acting was as magnificent as all his other roles.
Before 2015, we had a few good crime films like A Place in the Stars (Gideon again). And between 2015 and 2018, we had crime films like The Department and Slow Country.
But the bough broke for Nollywood crime films when in 2018, we saw films like The Delivery Boy and Kemi Adetiba’s critically acclaimed film, King of Boys record significant success. Nigeria stood in awe of Sola Sobowale, but we also duffed our hats to Ade Tiger and if there were an award for bodyguards from films, he would have won that! And even though King of Boys should have never been a series, we forgive Kemi because the first one was so great, that it would go down in the Nolly Hall of Fame.
After King of Boys, the Nollywood crime dramas started pouring in. In 2019 alone, we had The Set Up, Sugar Rush, Nimbe, Gold Statue and Run. By 2020, Mildred Okwo was teasing the release of her crime thriller – La Femme Anjola and Play Networks had released Rattlesnake: The Ahanna Story. In 2021, the crime scene gave us even more with films like Ponzi, Devil in Agbada, Collison Course, Sanitation Day, Swallow and a host of others. Nollywood was swimming with crime films. Some were good, others bad, and the rest were just plain unwatchable with thousands of plot holes and fake fight scenes.
By 2022, crime films took over, with Brotherhood and King of Thieves grossing over 300 million Naira each. There’s a thin line between crime and action, and my simple theory is this: If you commit a crime, be ready to run! So, don’t bother about me adding some action films to the list.
By 2022, Tobi had become the face of crime films in Nollywood, and we loved it. Between 2022 to 2024, we have seen even more crime films like A Tribe called Judah, Jade Osiberu’s Gangs of Lagos and The Trade, and Editi Effiong’s The Black Book.
Even the TV show scene has seen its fair share of crime dramas. In 2016, Hush was launched, and every 8 pm, I would be sitting around the TV with my family waiting to see Bem (Richard Mofe Damijo). In recent times, we’ve seen Crime and Justice, Wura, Blood Sistas, and Shanty Town steal the hearts of the audience.
This is 2024, and we’ve witnessed the evolution from Gideon Okeke as our go-to crime/action leading man to Tobi Bakre taking the reins, and now, we’re seeing Gideon make a powerful comeback with The Trade and Tòkunbò.
Yes, Nollywood has a thing for crime dramas. But who can blame them? Our films should be a reflection of society, right? If that’s the case, it’s safe to say Nollywood is a crime scene because Nigeria is a crime scene.
So, whether it’s about a complicated drug cartel, car theft, elaborate robberies, kidnap, scams and Ponzi schemes or a murder, Nollywood will tell these stories because we the audience love the thrill of a crime.
