Damilola Bamiloye says directing his father Mike in the Agbara Nla remake was so emotional he almost cried. Here’s what he and his brother shared about it.
What’s it like when your own children tell you how to act? Ask Mike Bamiloye.
His sons, Damilola and Joshua, have directed him in a remake of Agbara Nla, the Mount Zion classic he starred in decades ago. The new version runs about two and a half hours, and Damilola says making it got emotional.
Damilola shared the story on The Morayo Brown Show. He was directing his dad in the same role he’d watched him play as a little boy, and the memories hit him all at once.
“I almost shed tears,” he said.
The answer is pretty simple. The original was in Yoruba, but people from other parts of the country kept saying they wanted to watch it too, even if they couldn’t follow the language.
So the brothers rolled all seven parts of the original story into one film. They also gave it a technical upgrade, hoping it’ll connect with today’s viewers.What made it even sweeter was how easy his father made things. According to Damilola, Mike is very open. When a note came from his son, he just took it and did it. No “I’m your father” moments at all.
The brothers also looked back at their childhood. Mount Zion, they said, felt like one big family, almost like a team.
Everybody knew whose children they were, which meant people noticed everything. Even a small quarrel with a friend didn’t go unseen. That kind of attention, they said, helped keep them on track.
Damilola also called his mother his best friend. He said his parents balanced each other well, and that they showed love through small, everyday acts of service.
The brothers didn’t dodge the criticism that Mount Zion films paint Yoruba culture in a bad light. They say that’s not the point. In their words, the ministry’s films stand against the works of the devil, and that’s something found everywhere, not just in one culture.
Maybe you grew up watching Agbara Nla. Maybe you’re about to see it for the first time. Either way, this remake feels like more than a movie.
It’s a father and his sons, decades apart, telling the same story together.
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