Simi is now set to make her Nollywood debut with an award-winning film producer and director Kunle Afolayan in the movie “Mokalik”
This move will see Simi joining hundreds of other musicians that have tried their hands in acting, after a successful musical career, with “Mokalik” which means ‘Mechanic’.
The movie produced and directed by renowned producer, Kunle Afolayan who produced movies such as ‘October 1’, ‘Omugwo’, ‘Phone Swap’, ‘Tribunal’, ‘Irapada’, The Figurine and many more, will see Simi as one of the cast in his new movie, ‘Mokalik’.
According to Kunle Afolayan in a post, he put up on his social media page about the movie Mokalik, Simi will be playing the role of the daughter of a Buka (cafeteria)owner whose character holds a significant part in the movie plot. He said.
Kunle Afolayan taking to his social media page, while announcing the partnership deal with Simi on the movie, said:
“It is Official: Simi @symplysimi is featuring in “Mokalik” a Kunle Afolayan film. ‘Jamb Questiom’ crooner, Simisola Ogunleye, aka Simi, has accepted a role in Kunle Afolayan’s coming film, ‘Mokalik’ (Mechanic). The agreement was formalised on Sunday, at the filmmaker’s office, in Lagos.
In the all-Yoruba cast movie, Simi will be acting alongside notable actors like Femi Adebayo, Ayo Adesanya, Faithia Williams, Lateef Oladimeji and comic actors like Wale Akorede (Okunu), Ayo Ogunshina (Papa Lolo) and Dayo Akinpelu (Alabi Yellow). Ire
Beaming with smiles, it is obvious that the sonorous singer, who returned with a ‘Yes’ to Afolayan’s Golden Effects’ office after a week of studying the script, cannot wait to make her debut on the big screen.
‘Mokalik’ (Mechanic) follows the career of an 11-year-old boy, Jaiye, from the middle-class suburbs who spends the day as a lowly apprentice at a mechanic workshop in order to view life from the other side of the tracks.
Afolayan says ‘Mokalik’ is a slight departure from the flicks he had shot in the past, adding that there will be two versions of the film; one for the Nigerian market – the other for the international market.
Screen-played by Tunde Babalola, inspiration for the story, according to the filmmaker came during his constant visit to the mechanic workshop where he refurbished his much publicised Vintage car (Thunderbird Ford 1965) recently, while the film title, a Yoruba corrupt pronunciation of mechanic is from a scene in one of his late father (Ade Love)’s classic, ‘Taxi Driver’. “Visiting the mechanic workshop after about 15 years opened my eyes to a lot of things that I believe the world should know about our local auto car repairs industry,” he said.