Samuel cries foul, ‘Sudani’ scores self-goal

MALAPPURAM: A

Malayalam

movie that is as left field as they come but still, surprisingly, became a hit, has been red-carded for an unlikely reason. Nigerian actor

Samuel

Abiola Robinson, who played the title role in ‘

Sudani

From Nigeria’, has alleged that he has not been paid the ‘decent remuneration’ he was promised by the filmmakers and this was because he is black.

Ironically, the movie, shot on a shoestring budget, is about the travails of an injured Nigerian football player -- African players are a fixture in the popular 'sevens' tournaments in Malabar -- and how a local family treats him as one of their own. “The producers offered me far less money than Indian actors who are not half as popular, experienced or accomplished as I am and would normally earn. I am of the opinion that this happened purely because of my skin colour and the assumption that all Africans are poor and they don't know the value of money”, Samuel said in a Facebook post.

The movie’s producers and other actors, all of them cinephiles with a proven track record on social and humanitarian issues, have expressly denied this charge. On Saturday, Samir

Thahir

and Shyju Khalid, who produced the movie under the banner of

Happy Hours Entertainment

, clarified in astatement that they had given a clear picture of remuneration to Samuel before drawing up the contract and had offered him an additional amount if the movie became a success on moral grounds and not as part of the contract. The statement also said that allegations regarding racial discrimination were not true and unfortunate.

In response, Samuel revealed that he was paid a total of Rs 1.8 lakh for “the movie including all allowances. I received a base salary of about Rs 1lakh”, in another FB post regarding the issue. The spokesperson of the production company claimed that the producers gave

Samuel Rs

3 lakh as remuneration. “If he has any complaint, why did he not approach police before leaving India. Though the film is running successfully, it will take time for the producers to get revenue from theatres, and we had decided to distribute a share of profit to crew members including Samuel once the film becomes a success”, he said. Incidentally, Samuel when leaving the state had declared on FB that “I leave a piece of my soul in Kerala. It’s as if I have become half Indian”.

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