The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) has decided to establish three panels that will thoroughly look into a movie named after controversial self-acclaimed male barbie, Idris Okunneye aka Bob Risky.
The movie titled “Bob Risky In Love” was produced by Nollywood Namaste Production company and directed by Ken Steve Anuka. The movie was filmed in Enugu state. It stars Bob Risky as the main character who happens to be a transgender woman named Cherechi. It also features popular actresses, Anita Joseph and Queen Nwokoye.
Apparently, Cherechi goes abroad as a man but returns to the village as a woman much to the annoyance of his family and fiancee. Promotional posters for the movie which has since been released has been receiving a lot of criticisms, especially in the country’s movie industry. However, the soundtrack of the movie urges the general members of the public to be more accepting of transgender even if it is against our culture.
According to Punch Newspaper ,they reached out to an official of the board who confirmed the news.
He also added that the movie would be investigated according to the laws of the country and if it does not comply with it, then it would be legally prohibited.
In his words,
“We have set up three different panels to view the movie which was given to us by the producers for classification and review,” the official was quoted to have said. For the purpose of fairness and objectivity, we will not give specific details since evaluation is still ongoing but note that any movie that promotes homosexuality in contravention of our laws cannot be endorsed. Latest by next week we will deliver a verdict on the movie. If the movie is banned, it would be communicated to the producers and our enforcement team would mop up all copies of the film on the market and defaulters would be apprehended and fined appropriately. When classifying movies, we consider its cultural value, we check whether it is divisive given the fault lines of Nigeria as regards religion and tribe. We check its message, whether it promotes things that we find repugnant in our nation; we check the level of violence portrayed in the movie as well as sexual content and other things. Usually, it takes a minimum of one week and a maximum of two weeks for a movie submitted to us to be classified. But the online phenomenon is changing things and there is a need for us to adapt to new realities.”
This is not the first movie the controversial celebrity has starred in as he was featured in a Yoruba movie, “Ojuloge Obirin”. He played the role of a cross-dresser. The movie was produced by Tayo Sobola in 2015. Bob Risky also featured in a movie called ‘Skin’ released in March 2019.