I
never really met him nor knew him personally but I admired his acting skills
onscreen whenever I watched the movies he featured in. He was an actor who had
a panache beyond comparison in many of his roles. I always thought he was
damned good.
That
he is dead is a sad reality. That he died at all when he lived and still lives
in our hearts and on our screens is the painful jolt to our systems. Because in
Nollywood, actors (and good ones too, in Muna’s mould) never really die. They
only transcend to another place where, perhaps, the ovation they receive over
there gives lasting peace to their souls.
What
can one really say about Muna? I never knew much about him and perhaps many
people did not as well. He seemed to live a life less glimpsed in personal
details than that more appreciated on the television screens. He seemed to me
to be a recluse. And I might be wrong here but when one reads his body language
with the benefit of hindsight, one could begin to piece together a deliberate
insulation by the gifted actor from the public eye. And there is nothing wrong
with that. Many talented creatives all over the world are like that. But Muna’s
case stands out because it seemed like our nosey and sensational entertainment
press just could not get anything on him. There were few stories or scandals
about him and more reviews about his body of work which is quite the hallmark
of an artiste who exploits a mystique around him.
He
kept his life private and perhaps, that privacy was as much a tragic flaw as it
was a commendable decision, depending on how one views it. He shunned
selfies and self-serving instagram posts about material acquisitions. He could
well have lied, as most of his colleagues do about his material wealth, just to
‘belong’. But he kept it real. He did. I respect that.
I
have read some reports on his death online and while the veracity of such is
yet to be final on my part, there were tales of his battle with Kidney Disease
for a few years and his weekly Dialysis treatments which he hid from the public
all these years and known only to his close family. It was reported that he
shunned all entreaties by those in the know to raise funds for him through a
public appeal and preferred to plan a stage show which would have helped him
out of the medical financial demands. If that was indeed true, it was quite
unfortunate. Because I believe there would be few souls who would not have
donated to a Save Muna fund, if only to help in giving the actor a second lease
of life.
Other
reports say that he was a heavy drinker of hard liquor and smoked a lot
and there were assertions that these must have caused his health issues.
There’s nothing much to say about that. Artistes generally imbibe in habits
which act as a counterbalance to the demands of their jobs. How a man smokes
and drinks should not be anyone’s worries. It is the self-moderation switch in
the artiste which should be scrutinized when such happens rather than what he
does in his leisure.
There
was no doubt that Muna was a great actor. But he came across, to me, as one who
had more of a brooding disposition all the time off camera than one with a
happy mien. He was more of a mystery as a soft-spoken actor with a scowl and
while that attribute in a better clime would have added to his personal brand
power, over here it (that mystery about him) alienated him somehow from the
fawning fans.
I
find it personally distasteful that someone, and someone perhaps consumed by
grief or tactlessness, could release the pictures of his last dying moments
online. To prove what point? That he was really dead? That he indeed was in a
coma before he died? It was the most dishonourable thing to his memory to show
him sprawled on a car seat, unconscious. In these days of social media, where
pictures never disappear, those final pictures are what would be used to
remember him more than others.
Muna
was a damn good actor, really! And I do not think his death is a closing of the
final curtains of his act.
Source:charlesnoviadaily.com
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