Why I wanted my children to be movie stars – Actor, Ali Nuhu says “but they refused”

Popular Nigerian filmmaker and actor, Ali Nuhu, has revealed that he wanted his children to be movie stars but they chose different paths.

Nuhu said his son, Ahmad who is 16-year-old developed an interest in football while his daughter, Fatima had an interest to study international relations at the university.

In an interview with BBC Hausa, the film star disputed the speculation that Kannywood stars do not act with their children.

He said “Honestly I prefer my son to become an actor but he insisted that he has an interest in football so I supported him because nowadays you can’t force a career on your children.

“As a father when you discover your children’s interest in any career, you have to encourage them. For me, I prefer to act with him but he insisted on not becoming a thespian.

“Fatima decided against acting when she was 13. She wanted to study international relations, as I am speaking she is about to finish 300 level and thanks be to Allah with our encouragement she is among the students with the highest CGP in her class.”

On the Hausa film industry’s performance, Nuhu said there is an improvement, adding that the industry is growing fast, especially with the coming of Netflix and Amazon.

“The industry is growing fast, especially with the emergence of Netflix and Amazon to Nigeria and there they are now focusing more on Hausa films, you see if we were discouraged in the past and stopped producing films, we wouldn’t have achieved this.”