Legendary Nollywood actress and producer Funke Akindele has revealed the significant role musician D’banj played in her career.
The mother of two, who is the highest-grossing filmmaker in the Nigerian box office, disclosed that the singer provided financial support to launch her ‘Jenifa’ film brand, which propelled her to fame.
She shared this while giving a speech at D’banj’s 20th-anniversary dinner, held in Lagos last night.
“After the big break with ‘Jenifa’, I was out there, and people were celebrating me. A club owner invited me to his club then. He said, ‘I want to host you. You’re very hard working. I love ‘Jenifa’. Come with your cast and crew members.’
“So, we went and I saw D’banj for the first time. I was starstruck. But he said, ‘I am here to celebrate you.’ So we danced and he gave me his number.
“He took me to a quiet place and said, ‘Why did you let ‘Jenifa’ go like that? That’s a brand that you can feed on for the rest of your life.’
“I was like, what’s this guy saying? Me that was doing Yoruba movies.
He said, ‘No, ‘Jenifa’ has to come back. Get in touch with me, any support you need I will give you.’
“So, I reached out to him and he said, ‘When you’ve a brand, you feed on the brand. You milk the brand very well, make money out of it.’
“He gave me some money and said, ‘Go and write another ‘Jenifa’, I will support you with this money.’ I was like, ‘Really? No strings attached?’
He said, ‘No.’ That was how he filmed ‘The Return Of Jenifa.’ And till date, the brand is still relevant. Christmas 2024, we are coming with ‘Everybody Loves Jenifa’,” she said.