A Cursory Look At Muhsin’s Unveiling of Kannywood

A Cursory Look At Muhsin’s Unveiling of Kannywood

It’s difficult to do a book review when it is particularly written outside one’s mainstream area of competence. Therefore, this is not a book review. I am more comfortable calling it an attempt at disentangling some knots. I only intend to add on the debate Muhsin’s latest book on Kannywood is poised to generate. Conflict between custodians of pristine arts and movie fraternities is not a recent phenomenon. From the beginning, critics have dismissed works from movie industries as lacking in content, dialogue or quality of delivery, or even both. But Kannywood has not even reached this point where film critics would pounce on it. It is a pariah in the intellectuals community. Apart from Abdallah Uba Adamu and now Muhsin, I am not aware of any academic whose research interest is focused on this rudimentary film industry, which is rooted in the ancient city of Kano. 

It is puzzling that despite what seems like an overwhelming demand of genres in the mold of Mustafa Akkad’s “The Message” or “Lion In The Desert”, the economics of Hausa film points in a different direction. Period dramas and content-driven movies rarely bring in anticipated fortunes even in more (relatively) sophisticated film industries. If you have doubts about this you should ask Ram Gopal Verma and his foster child Anurag Kashyap. The critics would hail superb works like “Ashabul Kahf", but the producers might be crying from failed investments. Liberal entertainment is what sells fast now. However, as the taste of moviegoers further evolves, content would soon (hopefully) take the frontline of producers’ considerations. 

It was easy for me to flip through the first segment of Muhsin’s book titled “Kannywood: Unveiling The Overlooked Hausa Film Industry.” This I did almost on the same day Anas Musa (a bosom friend of Muhsin) brought a copy to me, which he insisted I should not pay because it’s complimentary. For avid followers of Muhsin’s blog or even his Facebook mutual friends, it would be a smooth ride going over this collection of essays on related topics which he has published on these social networking platforms at various times. The second and third parts are also familiar terrain to the same demographics. These parts contain film reviews from 2014 to 2018, and notes on top Kannywood films of 2017 and 2018. Interestingly, the green cover design with an engrossing image of celluloid is appealing. The language is lucid. And having an ace movie producer and actor Iyantama penned the foreword of the book is a masterstroke. You have to give it to Muhsin; this book is a testimony that he has done an extraordinary job in this field. But, as he has often insinuated, it is a thankless job critiquing Kannywood. 

There are few areas I think might do well with rejigging in the subsequent revised editions. The articles included in part 1 can be edited to give a seamless transition of contents within the subheadings. This will take care of redundancy and give readers a better flow by reducing repetitions of highlighted points that have featured in preceding articles. The author’s adopted style left each subheading hanging with very little room for continuity as one moves on. Somehow I feel like had the author used passive voice throughout writing this book, it would give a better sense of timelessness and fluidity. But this is completely pardonable given that the original pieces included in this book were abinitio intended for op-eds not a book. 

Again, it is difficult to ignore the big omission of an elaborate historical rendition of Kannywood’s evolution in a book that prides in “unveiling” this “overlooked Hausa film industry.” This is an industry that is barely 3-decade old. I believe that the first book (in English I suppose) about the industry should dwell deeper and tell readers more about the industry, its struggles at the takeoff, its linkages to TV productions, how it gave birth to modern Hausa music industry, the economics of Hausa film making, how collaboration with academics can improve the industry, and even the role played by yahoo groups like Fina_Finan_Hausa which was moderated by Abdallah Uba Adamu. Prof Abdallah has conviction in the media effect theory that films only mirror the society- they do not change it. It's a debate for another day. Also, the author did not tell us the metric he used to select the top Kannywood films of 2017 and 2018. Was it box office footprints, cult-status, margin of profit, content, or a mixture of all these? There's no consistency in pegging the film ranking considering that for 2017, 12 movies were selected; but only 10 movies for 2018. Top 10 or a multiple of 10 are more standard ranking in entertainment industries. And yes, there are a few typographical errors on pages viii, 3, 14, 23, 25, 32, 39, 46 and perhaps some others that might have escaped my deteriorating sight (I am old). 

As I draw the curtain at this juncture, I must congratulate Muhsin on his good work. I look forward to reading more from him. I am also sorry for not doing a good critique. I had only 3 hours to do this, and mostly distracted by guests banging on our shared office. 

Keep the flag flying!

First published in April 2018.