More than a decade ago, an actor shaving their hair for a Nollywood role meant they were plumbing the depths of their characters, becoming one with it. They were, in all manner of speaking, rolling in the pathos. Put another way: it was such a big deal. And these actors are usually paid more than their hairy counterparts. Baldness in Nollywood carbon-dates to the 1999 film Conspiracy, the second volume in which Onyeka Onwenu had her hair shaved at some point.
As a pre-teen, I thought the act was epic and ultimately scarring. Fast forward to new-era Nollywood and everyone is gleefully shaving off their hair. 2010’s Holding Hope saw Uche Jombo go bald to play a character with leukemia, as were Chika Ike in Moment of Tears and Mercy Johnson in 2011’s Heart of a Widow.
Nancy Isime, it appears, is the latest member to join the Nollywood bald league. The actress has just finished kicking asses in Imoh Umoren’s heist thriller Club, and latest pictures from her Instagram have placed her in Calabar, at the Obudu Cattle Ranch Resort, where she’s on location shooting an upcoming movie called Omambala.
#BaldGoals, anyone? We agree that she does look calm and serene on that carpet grass. Omambala is directed by Austin Nnaemeka Soundmind, and Isime plays the role of Ochone, the village palace Head Guard’s daughter. Excommunicated as a palace maid because the Prince (Jim Iyke) is madly in love with her, Ochone is burdened with a secret that will either cost her her life or wipe out the entire village.
This is as much plot synopsis you would be getting at this point, as we look forward to seeing the film’s proper cast.
When Bernard Dayo isn’t writing about pop culture, he’s watching horror movies and reading comics and trying to pretend his addiction to Netflix isn’t a serious condition.
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