I’m Not Wild

Star Actress Remi Oshodi aka Surutu who travelled to the United States of America on Wednesday spoke to P.M. Entertainment about an undertaker actress, relationship with Babatunde Omidina a.k.a. Baba Suwe and other things.

Madam Remilekun Oshodi simply?

No don’t put Madam in my name, my name is Remilekun Oshodi. I’m everybody’s friend.

Why the name Surutu?

Well I got that from the stage anyway, it was due to the role I acted in the movie titled “Surutu”, an Egun woman a very wild, rugged woman in the movie.

Do you really have any Egun background?

I don’t really have but I grew up among them. In Lagos then, they were working for my mother when I was a child and they were always the ones taking care of me while my mother was out of town.

Who is your mother?

Mrs. Dolapeju Oshodi, she is 88 years old.

Is she alive?

Very much alive, she is even a good Christian.

Why are you wild?

You can say I am wild but I know inside me that I’m not wild. I am just a normal person.

What has been happening to you for quite sometime?

Well, I’ve been in and out of location and home. I’ve been busy doing something good.

Like what?

Something very good. I decided to keep it to myself. Something good that you will love when you see later

Like movie?

Well not really movies but trying to put something together, trying to shelter myself in a proper way.

You read sciences?

Don’t even go there, talk to me what else do you want.

No, you read sciences?

Well, yes, kind of

Which area of the sciences did you specialise in?

Well, I don’t know but I can tell you that I’m a funeral undertaker.

So what is a funeral undertaker doing in movies?

Movie is my first love, I used to be a model when I was much younger. I’ve acted in series of TV programmes and some of them are the Old and New Village Headmaster with the living legend in the Village Headmaster. Go and ask, I am not insinuating.

Then why movie?

Like I said to you I’ve always loved entertainment right from when I was very young. I used to be a model, after modelling I worked for Eleganza as his Personal Assistant and after that I was out of the system for a while and I came back again to still act movies because its my first love.

As a funeral Undertaker, have you made more money from it than making movies?

Yeah, I used to work for Ebony Caskets. Working in undertaking gives more money than movies but sometimes when you have so much love for a particular thing you don’t look at the money aspect. It is your activities that really matter.

You have attended to two of your colleagues the late Gbenga Adeboye and Yomi Ogunmola. What were the challenges seeing your colleagues die and be the one doing the undertaking job, dressing them up?

I was almost doing Gbenga Adeboye I missed it when he was taken to another undertaker but I was there when Yomi Ogunnola was being dressed.

What were the challenges?

I broke down when Yomi was being dressed because we worked together a week before he died. He acted as my boyfriend in the movie and because of the intimacy I broke down. I was sick because that was about the first time I would have an encounter with somebody extremely close to me when it comes to undertaking.

It is said that people who sell caskets don’t want their family to die?

My mother is old but I don’t want her to die now, I love her very much, I don’t want her to die. She’s 88 and still kicking very well.

So why did you come back to movies?

Well, I’d been in the movies before I went to funeral business then things went well now I am back.

In your acting career and as a beautiful woman what has been your relationship with the opposite sex?

Definitely, men will appreciate you, it’s up to you because if you say you are going to answer everybody, by now I should have been damaged. I try to manage myself because if you tell me ‘hi, you are so beautiful’, I’ll just say thank you. It’s just an appreciation.

What is the relationship between you and your colleagues in the industry?

We are all friends. I love everybody.

 How did they feel when you came into the industry especially as a “Gboku gboku” (an undertaker)?

That should not be anybody’s problem, you can be a mechanic, hairdresser, vulcaniser and then decide to be an actor or a model. I don’t think it’s anybody’s problem. Well, if it’s anybody’s problem then it’s up to them. Well no one has ever come out to say that I can’t act a movie.

Has the movie affected your life?

Well, I’ve always been myself, I was never married right from when I was a child, a spinster but am a mother of kids.

How has life been as a single parent?

Well, as a single parent it’s highly challenging because you have to pick school bills and do normal things for the kids and I thank God I’ve always been there for them. There is never a day God made me to say ‘why did I have them?’

Why a single parent?

Well, I don’t know but I will get married despite the fact that I’m growing older. It doesn’t matter, you can get married at the age of 50 or 60 it depends on the person loving you.

What is your love life like?

(laughs) my love life…

You have never loved anybody?

Why not. Am I not human? Don’t you love?

 What was your first love like?

Well, my first love was the person I had the first child for.

 Then how was it then?

Well we were fine. It’s just that we couldn’t go on.

 Why?

We both understood each other. We’re still good friends.

 How old were you when you had your first child?

You have to ask him but I know I finished my secondary school before I started playing games.

 Was it in the secondary school you met?

Yes, he was like a brother to me, he was like a big brother in the street and he ‘chanced’ me.

 A colleague of yours was arrested for drug related offence and Nigerians believe it is what you all do for a living. What will you say about this?

I am very sure in that airport, the NDLEA would have arrested between 5-10 people daily. But Baba Suwe’s case is an unfortunate one. I don’t know why they are still keeping him. He is a very loving father, he doesn’t sleep alone, he sleeps with his children. He loves his kids so much and when his wife was alive they all slept together. Baba Suwe can’t be involved in drugs.

 So why all these noise about actors and actresses doing drugs?

You know people will always talk, because we are in the eye of the public, you will hear a story today that I have a boyfriend somewhere and sort of that and another man tomorrow. Well, God will see us through.

 Did you have such experience before?

Well, I did I was taken to the scan room and eventually they couldn’t find anything in me and they said sorry to me, put down my name, my passport number and asked me to sign so that they will have it in their record that I have been scanned before.

 Can you recall what happened to you there?

What happened there was that as I was going and the officer, an hausa person saw people greeting me and at the last point called me and asked where I was going and I told him I was going to London for a holiday and he asked how much do I have on me and I said sorry it should be the customs and immigration that should ask me for such and he said as an NDLEA officer he wants to know and I told him I have 2500 pounds. He didn’t look at the money, he asked me what I do for a living. I told him I am an actress. He asked if I knew Wunmi and I said ‘yes, she is my colleague’ and he said he’s sorry he needs to screen me and I said no problem and he did.

And what was your experience like?

When I came out I was just crying because it was a big blow to me, I never expected that and after everything they didn’t find anything on me and there was no noise. I came out but as I was walking towards the aircraft I was crying.

Has the experience affected you psychologically?

Yes, and no I’ll keep that to myself for now.

 Now you will be travelling to USA what is your mission there?

Well I am having a show in the states. I’m having a stand up show, my fans are dying to see me in the US.

 Are you doing a movie or the MC of the party?

I’m going to be MC at a party. I have a working Visa, I can do anything in US. I am free.

 How long are you staying?

Well you should expect me back by Christmas. Tell my fans I love them.

 What your take on the movie industry?

The movie industry is doing very well, it’s growing and we have thousands of us coming up. We just pray that we keep the good work going.

 Why haven’t you acted for a long time?

I just decided to go on a very long break. Now I am back big, by His grace.

 How did you come about the name Surutu and “Senami Kerewa”?

Well, producers gave me the names, they just give me names. I did a movie recently with Baba Suwe before he was arrested, titled “Alami Vulcaniser” and I am his wife from Ajase. You are gonna see, that’s a crazy me, bad crazy me, you will love it.

 What kind of person is Baba Suwe?

He’s a very quiet person but people see him as a proud person. I will authoritatively say that he is not, he’s just somebody that keeps to himself. You rarely see him play, when he is not acting but he keeps to himself.

What’s your background like, a Tom boy?

I grew up in Christian home, my family is Muslim and Christian but you have to tell me what I look like. I can’t see myself.

 How do people see you and how do you see yourself?

People see me like a crazy woman but in my house I comport myself and I am a responsible woman that loves the Kids and I love people growing up around me.

 Have you really made money from movies?

I have not made money, I am just a normal human being.

 Recently you were attacked by robbers?

The day I bought my ticket, I was robbed at Magodo. Thank God I am still living. The robbers came to a shop where I went to buy my body cream and they accosted me. They asked me for money and I co-operated.