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Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
Published by Kwara State University Press, Malete
Originality in Absentia: A Study of Selected Kannywood Films
Muhammad Muhsin Ibrahim
Department of Theatre and Performing Arts,
Bayero University, Kano
muhsin2008@gmail.com
; mmibrahim.tfs@buk.edu.ng
ABSTRACT
Adaptation and appropriation have been practiced since the Silent Era of cinema.
However, at several instances, disputes arise between the owner(s) of a film and
its adapter(s). This often leads to a number of legal battles from Mumbai to Los
Angeles. While defaulters are sometimes fined or imprisoned, some settlements
are arrived at outside of court, and others go unnoticed. Thus, many writers,
critics, filmmakers, even ordinary cinemagoers from around the world challenge
the aesthetic justification of adaptation and appropriation of script to screen or
screen to screen. This paper traces the genesis of adaptation and appropriation
and, of course, remake, imitation, copying, plagiarism and the likes, in
Kannywood, an emerging Hausa film industry in northern Nigeria. Looking into
the problems closely thereof, four films were analysed. Moreover, some
secondary data were explored. It was discovered that these practices pose an
existential threat to originality.
Key words: Adaptation, Appropriation, Bollywood, Kannywood, Nollywood, Originality
Introduction
For over a century since the beginning of cinema, much has changed in the technology, style,
theme and subject matter of film. One thing that has remained constant is the question of
adaptation and/or appropriation. Sanders (2006:23-26), defines adaptation as “a cinematic
version of canonical plays and novels”, while appropriation refers to a process that “frequently
affects a more decisive journey away from the informing source into a wholly new cultural
product and domain”. The term appropriation, as Krings (2015:16) observes, is derived from the
Latin verb appropriare, “to make one’s own”. This is the practice by many filmmakers in
Nigeria, particularly Kannywood. Several foreign films, containing alien cultures and practices,
have been adapted to fit into the understanding and expectations of a new audience.
Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
Published by Kwara State University Press, Malete
The adaptation can be from script to screen or vice versa; same for appropriation. Generally,
many stories told in film are, according to Welsh and Lev (2007, p.
xiii), “appropriated from
literary or dramatic sources, as much as 85% by some calculations and accounts”. The
percentage is very high, thus many scholars such as Bane (2006) and Venuti (2007) criticise the
practice. The paper seeks to revisit the extent and, perhaps, ill of adaptation and appropriation in
the Kannywood films, with the Hausa culture in focus.
The Problem with Originality
Originality is a concept that is bound in time and place. Originality is about being new and
different in a good way (Leitch 2003). Major film industries of the world are said to be running
out of creativity and originality. Historically, more than 70% Academy and Emmy Award-
winning films and television dramas have been adaptations of novels, poems, short stories, plays,
and nonfiction books. Bane (2006:4) traces that, “of the 240 Best Picture Nominees since 1957,
153 were adaptations. Of the 48 actual Best Picture Winners, 33 were also found to be
adaptations. In fact, in the entire 77-year history of the Academy Awards, 70% (54 films) of the
winning films were adapted from literary sources”. But what’s original is highly debatable in the
sense that there cannot be consensus on what is truly original.
Since its inception in the late 19th century, film has derived its material resource from Literature.
In fact, film, as a visual art, is a subgenre of Literature. However, most institutions now study
film as a new and independent field. Stam (2000) refers to primacy of literature to film as an
“axiomatic superiority of literary art to film”, suggesting that literature has a great influence over
films. Leitch (2003) also notes that the basis for the assumption that literary texts are to be
valued for the originality that adaptations lack is clarified by considering the apparently
exceptional case of William Shakespeare. Many of his plays were adaptations; hence many
critics question his originality and creative integrity. Leitch (2003:163) further notes:
The originality of Shakespeare, his defenders asseverate, depends precisely on his
seeing the artistic potential of inert source materials; he is an alchemist, not an
adapter, as one can see by comparing any of his plays with its base original. But
this defence demonstrates only that some adaptations are better than others, not
that the best adaptations aren’t really adaptations at all. Nor does it demonstrate
Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
Published by Kwara State University Press, Malete
that only writers can escape the label of adapter, since there are several noted film
adapters sanctified by the name of auteur.
However, adaptation is as old as the cinema itself (Bane 2006). Venuti (2007:25-43) refers to it
as “second-order creation”, meanwhile other scholars reject the strategy of adaptation on the
basis of fidelity and infidelity issues. This is pervasive in the local film industries in India,
Nigeria and other places where film thrives as a business. Stories are ‘adapted’ without the
consent of the original owner, or changed extensively, altering the intended thematic
preoccupation of its original writer, and so on. These and other reasons have resulted to
numerous lawsuits between the story owners and the film directors/producers.
The American Experience
The early American films drew much from the 18
th
century novels such as Charles Dickens (e.g.
Hard Times, 1915; Great Expectations, 1917), Jane Austin (e.g. Pride and Prejudice, 1940), and
Charlotte Bronte (e.g. Jane Eyre, 1956). Filmmakers like the famous D.W. Griffith equally took
more from poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s Victorian poems as well as others (Eisentein
1947:144). Corrigan (2012:12-13) points out that in those early years, literature greatly served as
a great influence to filmmakers. There are three important dimensions to film practice, thus:
(1) film practice and its connection with literature follow the social and aesthetic
directions and developments established in the nineteenth century, especially the
demands for realism and a class-oriented fascination with spectacle; (2) early
cinema tends to find its formal literary precedents in the staged perspective of the
theatre and less in narrative traditions; and (3) even at this early stage, film turns
to literary materials of all kinds for subject matter.
However, adaptation and appropriation have today gone far beyond those levels spelt out by
Eisentein (1947). Film critics like Stam (2000) expresses dissatisfaction over the current trend in
adaptation and appropriation. Stam (2000) observes that what is mostly obtained is not
practically adaptation, but something else. He states that film adaptations “are caught up in the
ongoing whirl of textual reference and transformation, of texts generating other texts in an
endless process of recycling, transformation, and transmutation, with no clear point of origin”
(Stam 2000, p.66). (Italics added).
Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
Published by Kwara State University Press, Malete
It is instructive to note that even Hollywood draws – copies, if you like – a lot from mostly
French filmmakers earlier, and now, from many remote parts of the world. In an interview with
The New York Times, an entertainment lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell (1992) says that “Idea theft is a
cancer in Hollywood. In an industry where imagination and creativity is the key to success, idea
theft is grand larceny. And it is prevalent.”
The Indian Experience
It is difficult to trace the origin of all stories filmed in Bollywood. The origin of the stories is
sometimes obvious, and at other times hidden. In several instances, however, the stories are what
Stam (2000) described as recycled, transformed, and transmuted. They are largely, according to
some critics, plagiarized. According to Desai and Dudrah (2008:05), several charges of
plagiarism have continued to be lobbied against Bollywood’s borrowings from other cinemas
(e.g. from Hollywood, Hong Kong, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Soviet cinemas) in its remake
of famous films such as A Star is Born as Abhimaan (Pride, 1973, dir. Hrishikesh Mukherjee) or
the Korean film Oldboy as Zinda (Alive, 2006, dir. Sanjay Gupta). Khalid (2008) cited in Orfall
(2009:3) argues:
Originality never has been and perhaps never will be the strong point of Indian
cinema. Not only are the stories liberally pinched, but in every department of
film-making a definite Western stamp is more than visible. Hence, the technical
excellence, we speak of with such pride is nothing more than a facsimile of the
Western films. The trend to emulate the West began right from our silent cinema,
with carbon copies of Flash Gordon serials hitting the Indian screen.
Shah (2012:458) also estimates that
in 2008 alone, forty six percent of Bollywood films copied
Hollywood films. Of those 2008 films, “only [two] were authorized adapted screenplays.” Shah (2012)
elsewhere states that “in recent years, nearly eight out of every ten Bollywood scripts have been ‘inspired’
by one or more Hollywood films.”
The Nigerian (Kannywood) Experience
Adaptation and appropriation are more rampant in local film industries, where an author or
director will never know that his work has been copied. This raises questions. A young, though
burgeoning film industry called Kannywood based in Kano but which operates across the Hausa
Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
Published by Kwara State University Press, Malete
speaking north and beyond, is a good example. Abdalla Uba Adamu in an interview with the
BBC Hausa says that he has more than 150 such films (BBC Hausa, “Gane Mana Hanya,”
November 15, 2014). In a separate instance, Adamu (2006:43) mentions that due to the rampant
practice, “the Hausa video […] filmmakers fall over themselves in copying a Hindi film. For
instance, Nagin (1976) a Hindi film (which itself was ripped-off by Bollywood from a Pakistani
film of the same name) was copied into Macijiya (snake) and Kububuwa (cobra) by Hausa
filmmakers.”
The division of Nigeria along religious lines brought about the remarkable difference in the films
produced in the two major geographical divides. The southerners do films in English and few
other languages and showcase mostly Western, Christian motifs and contents, and is seen as
representing the national film industry. The northerners draw significantly from the East, mostly
from Indian and Arab cinemas and portraying what they perceive as ‘Islamic’, or, at least, ‘less
un-Islamic’. Adamu (2007:76) observes that “the religious divide and the Islamicate environment
in Northern Nigeria created a preference for eastern-flavoured visual entertainment due to
perceived similarities between Muslim eastern cultures and Hausa Muslim cultures – at least in
the public space of Islam”.
Indian cinema has the biggest influence on Kannywood (see: Larkin 2000; Adamu 2006 & 2007;
Haynes 2007, and Muhammed 1992) The Hindi films have a long history as they were initially
imported by earliest resident Lebanese merchants and shown in their theatres throughout
Northern Nigeria, and eventually shown by the state-controlled television stations as ‘Weekend
Entertainment. Indian films share a lot of similarities to the peoples’ way of life in the aspects of
love, marriage, dresses like wearing men’s kaftans and women’s dupattas; conflict between
bourgeois and masses, and using magic, among other things (Ibrahim 2013).
Then the trend changed as Larkin (1997:1) observes:
For years, Indian movies have been an accepted, admired part of Hausa popular
culture compared favourably with the negative effects of Western media. Indian
movies offered an alternative style of fashion and romance that Hausa youth could
follow without the ideological baggage of "becoming western". But as the style of
Bollywood has begun to change over the last few years this acceptance is
becoming more questioned. Contemporary films are more sexually explicit and
Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
Published by Kwara State University Press, Malete
violent. Nigerian viewers comment on this when they compare older Indian films
of the 1950s and 1960s that “had” culture to newer ones which are more
westernized. One friend complained about this saying that “when I was young, the
Indian films we used to see were based on their tradition. But now Indian films
are just like American films. They go to discos, make gangs, they'll do anything in
a hotel and they play rough in romantic scenes where before you could never see
things like that.”
The shift served as an impetus to the local filmmakers to provide the audience with, among other
factors such as commercial gain, a better substitute. Films like Sangaya, Taskar Rayuwa,
Salsala, Kansakali, Ibro Awilo, Mujadala, etc, succeeded precisely because of their song and
dance routines adapted from Indian films, rather than the strength of their storylines or their
messages (Adamu 2007). Although they largely draw much from the Indian cinema, Kannywood
films are more ‘sanitized’ as bare body contact, not to talk of hugging and kissing among male
and female actors, is still avoided. Other practices too considered indecent by the general public.
This is the genesis of the massive appropriation of Bollywood films that has now become
problematic as some marketers go beyond appropriation to simply dubbing the Hindi films.
Larkin (1997); Maikaba (2004); Hynes (2007); Adamu (2007 and 2014) have traced how
Kannywood takes Bollywood ethos such as song and dance routine, choreography, storyline,
music and theme tone, etc, as their creative templates at the expense of their local circumstances
and creativity. Maikaba (2004:102) is even very categorical as he concludes thus: “it is
abundantly clear that the Hausa home video industry was influenced more than any other section
by [the] Indian cinema Industry”.
Fig. 1: Appropriated Hindi films in Hausa
Hausa Video Film
Appropriated Hindi Film Appropriated Element
Al'ajabi
Ram Balram (1980)
Song
Alaqa
Suhaag (1940), Mann (1999)
Songs
Aljannar Mace
Gunda Raj (1995)
Songs
Bakace
Tere Naam
(2003)
Storyline
Burin Zuciya
Raazia Sultaan (1961)
Storyline
Ciwon Ido
Devdas (2002)
Storyline
Dafa’i
Ghayal (1990)
Storyline
Danshi
Bazigar (1993)
Storyline
Dijengala
Khoon Bhari Maang (1988)
Storyline
Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
Published by Kwara State University Press, Malete
Hisabi
Gunda Raj (1995), Angarkshak (1995)
Son
gs
Ibro Dan Indiya
Mohabbat (1997), Rakshak (1996)
Songs
Inuwar Rayuwa
Main Pyar Kiya (1989)
Storyline
Jazaman
Lahu Ke Do Rang (1997)
Songs
Khusufi
Taal (1999)
Storyline/song/poster
Sharadi
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
Songs
Shaukin So
Pyar Is
hq Aur Mohabbat (2001)
Scenes/Songs
So Bayan Ki
Kuch Kuch Hota Hal (1998)
Songs
Tanadi
Judaai (1997)
Storyline
Zabari
Mein Khiladi Tu Anari (1996), Mohra (1998)
Choreography
Zo Mu Zauna
Khabie Khushi Khabi Gain (2001)
Storyline
Source: Adamu (2007)
Inuwa (2016) also listed a number of appropriated films below, thus:
Fig. 2: Appropriated Hindi films into Hausa
SN
Hindi Film
(Source)
Director Year
Hausa Film
(Remake)
Director Year
1 Jan Tak Hai Jaan Yash Chopra 2012 Ni da ke mun
dace
Ali Nuhu 2013
2 Swades Ashutosh Gowarike 2004 Kudi a duhu Ali Nuhu 2013
3 Bombay to Goa Raj Pendurkar 2007 Hanyar Kano Iliyasu
Abdulmumin
2014
4 Rawdy Rathore Prabhu Deva 2012 Ana haka Iliyasu
Abdulmumin
2015
5
Kick
Sajid Nadiadwala
2014
Gwaska
Adam A. Zango
2015
6
R
akih vs Ladies
Yash Raj 2011
2011
Basaja
Adam A. Zango
2012
7 Bhoot Ram Gopal Varma 2003 Almuru Ahmed Biffa 2014
8
Raaz 3
Vikram Bhatt
2012
BakinKishi
Hafiz Bello
2013
9 Ankur Arora
murder case
Suhail Tatari 2013 Asibiti Mansur Sadik 2015
10 Chori Chori
Chupke Chupke
Mustan Burmawalla &
Abbas Burmawalla
2001 Furuci Sadiq N. Mafia 2016
Source: Inuwa (2016)
Others plagiarise their Nollywood counterparts, e.g. Kannywood’s Nai Miki Uzuri (dir. Ali
Gumzak 2016) ripped off Kokomma (dir. Tomrobson 2012). Hollywood films, too, are
appropriated, though not as much as Bollywood. For instance, Masoyiyata Titanic (dir. Farouk
Ashu Brown, 2003), Romeo da Jamila (dir. Yakubu Muhammad, 2013) are obviously inspired
by Titanic (dir. James Cameron, 1997) and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet,
Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
Published by Kwara State University Press, Malete
respectively. The cloned posters below (Plate 1) show such an instance. Therefore, the above
tables are only a few examples, for the practice still thrives.
Plate 1 (Adamu 2007:40)
Relatively, Hausa writers too are accused of adapting, appropriating and transmuting many
Indian films. Malumfashi (1999) claims that: “Bala Anas Babinlata's (novel) Sara Da Sassaka is
an adaptation of the Indian film Iqlik De Khaliya (sic) while his Rashin Sani is another
transmutation of another Indian film, Dostana, etc.”
These are the same books that are sometimes ‘adapted’ into films by the same writers. This fits
the description of what Genette (1982) calls “hypertextuality”. Bala Anas Babinlata, alongside
others such as Dan Azumi Baba, Balaraba Ramat Muhammad, Ado Ahmad Gidan-Dabino have
adapted some of their books into films, though the books may not all be adapted from
Bollywood.
However, in his paper titled: “Bollywood/Hollywood”, Madhavi Sunder observes, thus:
Free flow of culture is not always fair flow of culture. A recent spate of copyright
suits by Hollywood against Bollywood accuses the latter of ruthlessly copying
movie themes and scenes from America. But claims of cultural appropriation go
far back, and travel in multiple directions. The revered American director, Steven
Spielberg, has been accused of copying the idea for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
from legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s 1962 script, The Alien. Disney’s
Qarni
Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
Published by Kwara State University Press, Malete
The Lion King bears striking similarities to Osamu Tezuka’s Japanese anime
series, Kimba the White Lion. (2011, p.275)
The above demonstrates a rather exceptional practice of plagiarism and a form of idea theft
among the filmmakers across the world. The theft can be deliberate or accidental. Kannywood,
Hollywood, Bollywood and any other film industries may not be the only guilty player. With
globalization and the media making the world more a village, flow of culture and cross-cultural
exchange cannot always be noticed. Again, Kannywood operates on a low budget and is only
relatively popular, perhaps the reason for copying other “woods” with impunity. It cannot be an
exaggeration if I say that no Kannywood filmmaker has ever sought for an authorization to
remake, adapt, appropriate, etc any Indian or even Nollywood films. Not even for dubbing that
has lately been the major cause of concern in the film industry.
A brief analysis of two Kannywood films: Kudiri (dir. Sadiq N. Mafia 2014) explicitly
caricatures a famous Indian film, Aashiqui 2 (dir. Mohit Suri 2013); and Nai Miki Uzuri (dir. Ali
Gumzak 2016) that ripped off a Nollywood film, Kokomma (dir. Tomrobson 2012) will be given
below.
SAMPLE 1:
Aashiqui 2 opens at a show in Goa. A large crowd gathered to watch the performance of a
chronic alcoholic and a famous singer and musician, Rahul Jaykar. He grudgingly comes
onstage. Another singer who fears and envies Rahul disrupts the show. After the fight, he goes to
a local bar and finds a bar singer, Aarohi singing his songs. He is impressed by her voice and
potentials and believes that bar singing is not dignified for her. He assures her to leave her job
and follow him to Mumbai. She obliges. However, as soon as he goes back to Mumbai, Rahul is
attacked. His friend cum manager, Vivek thinks that the media should not be aware of the attack,
thus lies that he has travelled abroad.
The now jobless Aarohi tries everything possible to contact Rahul in Mumbai but she cannot.
Vivek ignores her calls. This worries her parents. Rahul finally recovers and finds Aarohi
himself. He fires Vivek. A deal with a record producer for Aarohi is signed. She soon becomes a
Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
Published by Kwara State University Press, Malete
successful singer. Everyone is happy; gossip sprouts that Rahul is misusing her. This goads him
to return to his old habit of drug addiction and alcoholism.
She moves in to his house to assist in rehabilitating him. Her parents do not like that but they
gave up. Aarohi keeps on giving Rahul all the support she can; she even vows not to sing again
until he quits alcoholism and recovers. He remains adamant, and finally commits suicide. Aarohi
is devastated and despaired. She is later encouraged to not stop singing as that would not please
Rahul.
Kudiri tells a story of a successful singer and a chronic alcoholic, Salim who does not take his
occupation serious. He fights with a rival singer during a show after which he meets a bar female
singer, Nabila, singing his songs. She gets scared by seeing him, while he finds her melodious
voice fascinating and immediately offers to employ her. As a girl from a poor family, Nabila
wants to continue with her education but she could not. That is why she sings in a bar, an
undignified work for a lady. She quickly accepts the offer and quits her job.
Salim’s manager cum friend does not like the manner his boss behaves. For Nabila, Salim leaves
Kaduna to Kano. Unfortunately, his rivals attacked him and he was hospitalised for weeks.
Nabila tries to contact him while his manager refuses to answer her calls. The now jobless Nabila
brings nothing to her poor parents. Salim finally meets her after his recovery and soon gets a
contract for her with a music company.
Nabila’s star shines up, while Salim’s shines down. This causes his relapse to alcoholism and
despair. She relocates to his house to look after him. Her parents object to that decision of hers
but gave up after learning that Salim truly needs her around. Finally, Salim attempts suicide and
leaves a note for her. He is nonetheless shown to have survived the car crash, and even won a
contract to perform at Hollywood.
SAMPLE 2:
Kokomma is titled after a girl, the central character, from a poor family who works as a maid in a
wealthy family house in Lagos city. The housewife, Mrs. Margaret works, thus leaves home
Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
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daily for her workplace. The husband, Mr. Enet stays at home with the housemaid. One day, the
guardsman of the house assaults Koko (shortened for Kokomma) and is thus sacked. But as days
pass by, Mr. Enet begins to admire her as his friend Moses advises him to. He eventually rapes
her. His son, Usen returns after finishing his studies abroad. He hardly settles when he falls in
love with Koko (Kokomma). His mother doggedly objects his choice and proposes another girl
of his status. He rejects her outright.
It finally comes out that Koko is pregnant. Margaret demands to know who is responsible. After
much drama and threats, it is found out that Mr. Enet is the father of the unborn child. Usen vows
to marry her, but she leaves the house and goes back to her parents. Margaret and Usen also
leave the house for Mr. Enet alone.
Nai Miki Uzuri begins from a scene where Bilal follows Amira, demanding explanation over the
latter’s pregnancy. She hedges, refusing to respond to him until when he insists. She thus directs
him to go back and ask his father. The story is then shown through a flashback.
Amira works as a maid in Bilal’s house while he is away, studying abroad. His mother, Hajiya
works, therefore leaves his father, Alhaji at home alone with the maid. Alhaji gradually begins to
admire her. He one-day chases away a guy, Jabir, who follows her home everyday. Alhaji
eventually rapes Amira. A few days after his return, Bilal falls in love with Amira. His mother
objects that but he remains defiant. Unknown to him, she carries his father’s unborn child. Hajiya
eventually finds out that Amira is pregnant, thus demands to know who is responsible. The
flashback ends.
Although Bilal intends to marry her, it is Jabir whom finally marries her. Hajiya is blamed for
neglecting her duties as Alhaji’s wife for her work. Amira is requested to stay and give birth in
the house, and afterward get married.
Analysis
The similarity between the aforementioned films goes beyond the intertexuality of Bakhtin and
Julia Kristeve to what Gerard Genette in Palimpsestes (1982) calls transtextuality. Genette
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posited five types of transtextual relations, one of which bears relevance to the kind of
appropriation we have above, and this is called “metatextuality”. Metatextuality consists of “the
critical relation between one text and another, whether the commented text is explicitly cited or
only silently evoked” (Stam 2000:82).
It is however a commonplace observation in copyright scholarship that “all creativity is
derivative” (Sunder 2011) in one way or the other. The filmmakers are a product of the same
universe. That is why even the Hollywood, seen as an epitome of originality and pinnacle of
ingenuity, has at various instances been charged with a subtle plagiarism and unauthorized
remakes; or for mining the works of past creators, or less popular film industries in some remote
part of the world.
The examples of the aforementioned Kannywood films are a pure plagiarism. Seger (1992:64-
71) suggests that a film remake needs to do the following to qualify as good. The filmmakers
need to contemporarise the original, update the context, consider the value system (of the
sourced text and theirs) and, above all, be creative. Adamu (2013:291) also added that “for the
remake to achieve its artistic objectives, the audience must be aware of the original (source text)
and its offspring, that is, the remake”. Some Kannywood producers employ a strategy of
compiling various scenes from multiple Bollywood movies in an attempt to evade being easily
identified, or attract copyright infringement suit, which is highly unlikely to happen (see Figures
1 & 2 above).
Although both sourced films are already contemporary, the context needs update, especially that
of Kudiri. The filmmakers add very little or no subplots. It is slightly different in the case of Nai
Miki Uzuri where a few characters are substituted; for instance, the guardsman in Kokomma with
Jabir. The producers also try to ‘Islamise’ the ending by inviting an Islamic cleric at the end who
admonishes the wife, Hajiya and informs the audience that the son can marry Amira, though she
carries his father’s unborn child.
Our society differs considerably from India, thus the value system should be considered and
adjusted to fit our conservative, puritanical one. For instance, the culture of singing and dancing
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by opposite sex is not common in Hausa land; no decent girl could “move in” with a man she is
not married to, etc. Creativity is also largely absent as the story originals are not expanded and
the narratives (are) not extended. This is, perhaps, due to the fact that the filmmakers have run
out of creativity.
Conclusion
As enshrined in the Copyright Acts of both the US, India and Nigeria, reproducing any work of
art in whole, or a substantial part thereof by duplication, imitation or simulation amount to
copyright infringement. Therefore, where applicable, the original source of any adapted,
appropriated and remade film should be duly acknowledged by the adapter, to respect and value
the hard work of that owner and to appreciate their peculiar intellect, idea and imagination.
Where possible, a consent and/or authorization should be legally obtained from the owner of any
literary work another person wants to adapt, appropriate, remake, etc.
Kannywood filmmakers also know quite well that their films lack originality, but still continue
with the practice for profit purposes. They operate in a much smaller industry that does films on
mostly shoestring budget. This low-profile status pushes them to substantially copy, imitate,
transmute and plagiarize Bollywood films with impunity. The filmmakers have always
maintained that they do so for the satisfaction of their audience, and indeed, profit as the success
story of the biggest hit films like Sangaya, Mujadala, Ibro Awilo, etc in Kannywood is always
connected to their popular songs-and-dance sequences. In contrast, the audience at least some;
the government and the hegemonic religious scholars reject and condemn that. Adaptation and
remake are lawful acts inasmuch as they are carried out in accordance with the practice.
Originality is something elusive.
Literature, Integration and Harmony in Northern Nigeria; H. I. Abdulraheem, S.B. Aliyu and R.K. Akano
(Eds.); 72-85; 2017
Published by Kwara State University Press, Malete
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