‘Hikima’ was made with a budget of over N20 million, an unusual feat for a Kannywood production.
Kannywood producer Mustapha Ahmad, popularly known as Alhaji Sheshe, said ‘Hikima’ is one of the first Hausa films that was made with Netflix in mind.
Sheshe, who is producer of the film alongside Nasiru Naba as executive producer, points out that ‘Hikima’ is one of the few Kannywood films with a huge budget of over N20 million in the history of the Hausa film industry.
He added that the crime movie was made with state-of-the-art equipment and features some of Kannywood’s finest actors.
“We have done all that it takes to fulfil the basic requirements for a film to make it to that level and we are hopeful we will make it to Netflix, God willing” he said.
‘Hikima’ was directed by Sir Hafizu Bello who stressed that it has been given “an expertise touch no other Kannywood film has ever received,” adding that with the changing phase in the global movie industry, there is a strong need for them to follow the trend in order to remain afloat.
“The world is dynamic and things have changed dramatically, and for Kannywood to keep afloat in the business we need to adopt new innovations in the movie making business. That is why we have taken the new trend as a challenge, and it is up to the industry to keep pace or fade out, which we are not ready to do,” Bello said.
He said: “It is no longer an insinuation that the traditional movie making process is becoming obsolete.
“That was why we decided to get the international standard guidelines, study it and key-in in order to make the needed difference.”
The film features actors like Jamila Umar, Nasiru Bello, Ishaq Sidi Ishaq, Sani Mu’azu, Maryam Yahaya among several others.
On October 2, filmmaker Kenneth Gyang’s ‘Òlòturé’, the story of a young female journalist who goes undercover as a prostitute to expose a human trafficking syndicate, premiered as a Netflix original. Three others are expected to be released in subsequent months.
‘Hikima’ is set to be released in the early part of January 2021.
