Then he acted in a way that was quite unexpected of a personality in his class. He stood aside to usher her back into the lift. On getting to his hotel room, he again stood aside, opened the door and gently led her inside.
The conversation kicked off with the purpose of Kazim’s visit to Nigeria.
“I am here for Etisalat promotional campaign. While shooting a new television series, Black Sails, in Cape Town, the Etisalat team approached me and asked me to do a commercial for them. I agreed after confirming that they were doing a good quality job with their brand,” he began.
Born in Nigeria but raised in the United Kingdom, he has a vivid recollection of his childhood, spent briefly in Nigeria and mostly in London. “I was born in Lagos. We lived in Victoria Island which at the time was a beach. We used to trek to Eko Hotels from our home. Bar beach was also a big playground for us. My parents are from Ogun State. We moved to London when I was very young but we visited Nigeria during the holidays.
“Growing up in London was fun. We were the only black family in a white neighbourhood. I remember only one racial incident. Growing up with Nigerian parents, I always had a sense of pride. My father taught us to be proud of our roots as Nigerians. He made us know that as Nigerians, we could achieve whatever we set our minds on. With that orientation, I was not easily intimidated, I felt as a Nigerian, I could be the King of England!” he enthused.
With an accountant mother, and engineer father, it is no surprise that Hakeem’s choice of career did not go down well with the two professionals. “My parents wanted me to be a lawyer, a doctor or engineer, the three middle class professions,” he recounted. “But I had more of an artistic bend and that might have been a bit disappointing to them.”
Kazim, who has had an impressive sojourn in Hollywood, spoke about his journey into the movie industry. “I started from the stage. I took part in school plays. As a member of the National Youth Theatre, I became the only man of colour to play Othello, a character in one of Shakespeare’s plays. The next year, I played Henry V. I was also a member of the Royal Stage Company before moving to South Africa. I was in South Africa for 10 years doing television and film. After that, I moved to America to shoot Hotel Rwanda,” he stated.
In addition to working on the South African television series, Black Sails, he has also made inroads into Nollywood, featuring in popular flicks like Last Flight to Abuja, Inale and Half of a Yellow Sun. According to him, coming back to Africa has been a journey of self realisation.
Sounding nostalgic he said, “Coming back properly into the African continent has been a wonderful eye-opening experience. It has helped me to understand who I am and where my place is. When I moved to South Africa in 1995, Mandela was just being elected as the first black President of South Africa. There was a lot of energy and great optimism all over the country. People began to realise that anything was possible and we can make Africa a great place. It was a time of re-identification,” he noted.
Asked how he prepares himself to play a particular character, the actor who has featured in countless movies, said, “I do a lot of research. In the case of Hotel Rwanda, there were a lot of Rwandans on set. I managed to talk to them and that made it really interesting. Again, I did a lot of readings and also watched documentaries. I tried to imagine what made people that lived together for years suddenly start killing themselves. Obviously, it was the psychological effects of post-colonialism. The movie affected me in terms of understanding the level of atrocities that were committed. I came from the point of view that the people committing the atrocities believed that they were doing something right.”
On his most challenging role, he said, “They are all challenging. I always find playing the honesty, integrity and complexity of a character challenging.”
Having featured in Pirates of the Caribbean, alongside Johnny Depp, who plays the character of Captain Jack Sparrow in the popular sequel, Kazim had glowing commendation for his multiple award winning co-star. “He is a lovely man, a very down-to-earth and likable human being. He has no graces. It was really nice to see somebody of that calibre that was so humble and down-to-earth.
“I think the better you are as an actor, the more down-to-earth you are. When you are insecure as an actor, that is when you start giving off airs. For me, the skill of what we do and the task of trying to re-create the characters is more important than showing off,” he opined.
Asked how he stays in shape, the actor revealed: “I visit the gym regularly. I work on my stomach because as one gets older, the stomach starts growing. So I work to maintain my six packs.”
He listed his hobbies as going to the cinema, getting involved in the game of Pleiades and hanging out with his three lovely children. The mention of his children brought the question of his wife into the conversation and the actor smilingly said, “My wife is South African. I met her in Cape Town. She is a beautiful, down -to-earth person. She is also a very honest, caring and loving woman. She is very real, somebody who loves completely. We have been married for 14 years. She was not a fan. If she were a fan I don’t think we would have had a proper relationship.”
What about female fans, how does he cope with them? “I don’t think I have a lot of female fans,” he replied. “I am too busy to run after women anyway.”
We approached the issue of style. “My style is sexy!” Kazim’s baritone voice rang out. “My dressing depends on my mood really. I like wearing jeans and T-shirt. When I am here in Nigeria, I wear our native clothes. I am moving a bit more into suits these days. I love the casual-smart look with an edge. I pick clothes when they feel right for the occasion or if I want to impress people with my style. But I would never wear skin tight jeans or shorts. I love African hand-made jewellery,” he said.
Anna Okon.
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