Beaming with smiles in a dark dress, lead character in the long-awaited movie, Water and Garri, Tiwatope Savage, better known as Tiwa Savage, revealed that despite her musical accomplishments, acting is her first love.
Savage explained that with her debut movie, she wanted to serve as a motivation to people who intend to try their hands at new things, saying interpreting roles had been a dream of hers.
The Nigerian music superstar said fulfilling the dream showed she and her team’s adequacy at exploring other parts of the entertainment industry as well as creating a balance between music and acting for her admirers’ delight.
“It’s been a dream of mine actually. Film and acting were my first love, so I hope to inspire people. I want to be an inspiration to talents out there. You know, to inspire people and let them know that we can wear different hats and execute those hats excellently,” Savage said at the movie’s media briefing held at Livespot Entertainment Centre in Lagos.
She added: “Behind me is a great team. I feel like you know we have been working on balancing things up. Vannessa Amadi-Ogbonna has been working with me to balance things. As you know, even to balance motherhood as well is a lot. For me, having the right people behind me has helped me in making the right decisions. We don’t always have to answer or accept every offer, but we accept the ones that make sense.”
Meanwhile, Water and Garri, which was directed by Meji Alabi, tells the story of Aisha (Savage), an ambitious fashion designer. Aisha, who returns to her native country after a decade’s sojourn in the United States of America due to losing a member of her family, has to find a way to reconnect with her family, old friends and her past love, just as she works out ways to confront the guilt left behind.
Some of the film’s cast and crew include the lead character and music star, Tiwa Savage; Jemima Osunde, Mike Afolarin, Andrew Bunting, a Ghanaian, Lloyd Gyanfosu Junior, among others.
Speaking about the movie at the briefing, Meji Alabi said it was an opportunity to do something different, saying: “We decided to do something different from the visual album we earlier had in mind. We thought about making a film. Considering how many music videos and how much we had already done together, it was the perfect progression of our relationship. For me, it was a nice idea to see how we can take it to the next level.”
On the cast, the movie producer, Jimi Adesanya, hailed them for being supportive of one another during the production phases, saying despite intense shooting sessions that lasted for weeks in Ghana, they brought their scripts to life.
Adesanya stated that Ghana was important to the movie setting, saying: “Cape Coast serves as the door of no return – through which some of our black brothers and sisters were taken away from us to another part of the world many decades ago.”
Also speaking, popular actress, Jemima Osunde, known for starring in prominent movies, including Lion Heart, Isoken, Battle on Buka Street, Quam’s Money, said Water and Garri represents one of her best projects so far.
On her most memorable experience on set, she said: “It is hard to take out just one. It was a very, very beautiful set and I had fun shooting the movie. One such was a scene in which Tiwa and I were in a tricycle shooting. While the tricycle moved on the street, people were going about their daily lives. What I know is that Water and Garri is one of the best movies on which I have worked.”
It is, however, worthy of note that the movie’s premiere was supported by office of the Vice President of Nigeria. Special Assistant to the President on Digital & Creative Economy, Office of the Vice President, Mr Fegho Umunubo, who spoke at the event, said the Federal Government’s support of Water and Garri showed its interest in the creative industry.
“Tiwa Savage has contributed a lot to the creative industry. We saw the need to support her, knowing how much it takes to move from music to film,” Umunubo said.
On his part, Ayo Adeagbo, Special Assistant to the President on Arts, Culture and Digital Economy, added that ensuring the right policies and putting together a task force on piracy were areas among which government was supporting the creative industry.
According to him, to enable the industry to thrive, collaborations were ongoing with the Ministry of Justice to stop the loss of revenue resulting from piracy.