Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search
Breaking News:

It’s gold… More gold for Nollywood’s Charles Granville

By Shaibu Husseini
14 December 2019   |   3:22 am
He is a multi-talented artiste; one of the few in the Nigerian creative space that combines singing, being a businessman

He is a multi-talented artiste; one of the few in the Nigerian creative space that combines singing, being a businessman, a musician with acting and directing so well.

His name is Charles Granville, best known for his role on the long-running television soap ‘Tinsel’. The handsome and well-built entertainer who started out as a singer and musician, before he veered into acting and later directing, has always been passionate about acting and directing.

Although he studied Electrical Engineering, the Rivers State native revealed that he decided to follow his passion after his graduate education, by first launching out as a singer before he eventually settled for what has clearly become a full-time career in filmmaking.

Star of critically acclaimed movies such as ‘Last Flight To Abuja’, ‘Impossible Relationships’, ‘Dowry Man’ and ‘Locked’, which he produced and directed and which starred actors such as Hilda Dokubo, Belinda Effah, and Sunny Nneji, Granville served as casting Director for the series ‘The Calabash’ as well as the composer of the soundtrack for the same series.

He has continued to be recognised for his amazing talents by several bodies and institutions. The actor and singer who won the 2014 Gospel Music Awards (NGMA) for best indigenous gospel song (contemporary), mentioned that he particularly has a couple of accomplishments to be proud of as 2019 gradually comes to an end.

Aside delivering his debut film, ‘Locked’ to the admiration of stakeholders in Nollywood, various sectors appear to be paying attention to his craft and are recognizing the efforts with honours. Only last week, the filmmaker was decorated as ‘Man of the Year’, by Man magazine at a star-studded ceremony at Grand Oak Centre, Lekki, Lagos after earlier honours such as: ‘Special Mention Award’ at Abuja International Film Festival (Locked); ‘Best Movie Producer’ (The Intellects Award); ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ and ‘Special Recognition’ for lead actor in Locked, Hilda Dokubo (Nigerian Achievers’ Awards).

Head of Kingsville Media Group, a full-fledged production equipment rental company, Granville, who revealed that he is a U.N. Global Ambassador, has led the media group to be involved in a lot of productions. This is in addition to its involvement in several social responsibilities and charitable causes, one of which is Global Rights, which stands against sexual violence in Africa and around the world.

The artiste also disclosed that his ambassadorship for U.N. Global is for peace and that part of the duties he is expected to perform, as an ambassador, is to champion causes that have to do with the youth, business, entertainment, and social justice.

Award winning singer and composer, Granville named the likes of Fela, Ron Kenoly, Don Moen, Panam Percy Paul, Kyle Walker, Bishop T.D. Jakes and the late gospel artiste Kefee as people who have a great influence on his career. He explained that Fela was one of his favourites ‘because of his lyrics which are very insightful. Some of the things he said are still happening today, he really inspired me a lot. The late Kefee also inspired me a lot because she pushed me a lot and ensured that I was given the opportunity to showcase my talent as a singer.’’

With these awards and more yet to come, Granville has promised to consolidate on the success of his psychosis-themed film, ‘Locked’, in the New Year. “We are releasing another movie in the cinemas from March 6, 2020. It is titled, ‘30 Pieces of Silver’, starring Nse Ikpe-Etim, Enyinna Nwigwe, Charles Granville, Deyemi Okanlawon, Keppy Ekpeyong Bassey and Jide Kosoko amongst others,’’ he disclosed. But beyond 30 Pieces of Silver, which is being readied for early 2020, Granville talked about plans to shoot some major movies next year and also his plan to lead his production company to launch the print version of Cinematique magazine. “We are also looking forward to the Cinematique Awards in 2020,’’ he said.

On his plans for the New Year, he revealed that apart from movie and music productions that are on the queue for production, he is on call early next year to lead the Kingsville Media Group to expand the companies real estate investments and to partner with other like minds for business growth. He also said, “we intend to do more for the development of the youths in the Niger Delta as part of our CSR. So many people, too numerous to mention individually, have been part of this success story indeed. I am grateful to Victor Ojabo and Lolu Majaro for their contributions towards the making and success of ‘Locked’.  We will continue with our weekly online monologue challenge, Cinematique Monologue Mondays to encourage young actors discover themselves.  I wish to thank them for motivating me to do better and see things work for my good. 2019 has been great with fans, critics, and my colleagues; I am optimistic of a better 2020.”

 

0 Comments