Ace Ghanaian actor Ekow Smith-Asante may have meant well when he said 90% of the ‘Kumawood’ movies (movies made in Kumasi) are destroying the Ghanaian movie industry.
But he definitely bit more than he could chew when he said the target market for those ‘inferior’ movies are people in Asankragua, Sefwi Wiaso, ‘Yaw Wiaso’ and other place “who do not know jack about lighting, sound, good acting and other things and they are not ready to know.”
The ace actor also stated that Kumawood movies, according to the producers, are not made for educated people living in Accra, Cantonments and other urban areas but for those in the hinterlands like the place in mentioned earlier.
Those comments have rattled the cage of the chiefs and people of Asankragua and they are asking for an unqualified apology from Smith-Asante or he would have himself to blame.
Smith-Asante’s comments, made on Joy FM’s Rhythms A2Z show, was originally targeted at the producers of the ‘Kumawood’ movies, whom he said were only passionate about making money and not developing the creative arts.
He said the Kumawood movie makers ignore everything that makes a good movie and only pay attention to the story lines based on themes like witchcraft and others, which people in Asankragua, Sefwi Wiaso, Yaw Wiaso and the rest love.
His comments attracted an equal measure of response from some of movie stars like Agya Koo, Kwaku Manu and Akrobotu, who are major Kumawood movie characters.
Kwaku Manu thought Smith-Asante is fading out so he wanted to say something to remain relevant, hence the “empty talk” about Kumawood movies. Agya Koo and Akrobotu disagreed with him, saying the Kumawood movies are more entertaining and educative than those movies Smith-Asante calls quality movies.
Agya Koo described the English-based movies as 'Indian movies' because the greater majority of Ghanaians do not fully understand the language and the story line, but they could easily relate to the Kumawood movies.
Kumawood movie maker Paul Gee admitted that many Kumawood movies lack the needed quality. He also admitted that the target market is indeed people in Asankragwa and other such areas.
Paul Gee however hit back at the so-called English-based quality movies, saying that they are worse because they contain lots of sex scenes, which promote infidelity, immorality and other social vices.
He also noted that Smith-Asante had no businesses going on radio to criticize Kumawood movies because he has acted in some of them and he had been in meetings where the industry was discussed but he made no contribution.
Asankragua is angry
But Smith-Asante’s biggest trouble was not with the players in the movie industry, but with the chiefs and people of Asankragua, whom he described as people who did not know jack about what makes a quality movie and are not ready to know.
The Gyaasehene of Asankragua, Nana Adu Boahene I told Adom News the chiefs and people of the town feel very insulted by Smith-Asante’s comments because “he is trying to say that we live in some hen coop in the remotest parts of the country and we have no clue about what is going on around the world.”
He said it would be good for Smith-Asante to go through the proper channel and apologize to the chiefs and people of Asankragua, otherwise “he should wait and see what is coming at him.”
“Some people are determined to just call hinterland dwellers names and denigrate the chiefs but we will not sit by and watch them do that to us,” he warned.
Smith-Asante has since apologized on radio but Nana Adu Boahene has hinted that the chiefs of Asankragua would not accept an apology on radio so if Smith-Asante knows what is good for him and he should get the right people and take them to Asankragua to apologize to the chiefs or be ready for the consequences.
Some residents and citizens of Asankragua think being the big movie star that he is, Smith-Asante should have known better than to insult the sensibilities of a group of people in the country.
They argued that, as a movie star from Ghana, he was expected to have mastered the cultural dynamics of the country and rather educated people on the implications of making such derogatory statements about any group of people in the country.
Adom News is reliably informed that Smith-Asante is preparing to offer a proper apology to the chiefs and people of Asankragwa for his comments.
