For quite sometime now, popular Yoruba actress, Sikiratu Sindodo, has been off the scene. Her face has not been seen in most of the movies that have been coming out for years. She has also been silent. Last week, City People magazine ran into Sikiratu Sindodo whose real name is Tayo Odueke at an event and she revealed what she has been up to lately and why she has not been featuring in movies like before.
In those good old days, Sikiratu Sindodo was raving hot. She was many producers delight. Many marketers also wanted to have her on the jackets of their new releases, because her face sold movie then. She not only acted in Yoruba movies she acted in English movies also. At some point, about 10 years ago, she fell ill and was in and out of hospital for close to 2 years before she got healed off the miraculous ailment. She came into limelight following her role in the movie “Sikiratu Sindodo”, which earned her the nickname. “The movie that led to my breakthrough is Sikiratu Sindodo. It has stuck with me ever since and it is always in the news for the bad reasons.
It made many people to see me as a very wayward girl because of the wayward role I played in the movie. Meanwhile, I am a very calm person. I don’t go out when it is not necessary and I always mind my business.”
However, I don’t regret playing that particular role because I was just doing my job.”
Tayo Odueke attended Mainland Preparatory Nursery & Primary School, Surulere, Lagos, for her elementary education before she proceeded to Methodist Girl High School, Yaba for her secondary school education. She then did a 2 year Diploma course in Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan before she studied Creative Arts at the University of Lagos but she didn’t graduate probably because of the busy schedule demanded. She chose to follow her passion. But her parents were not too happy with her decision to act at first. “As a child my dad wanted me to become a newsreader while my mother wanted me to become a Lawyer.
They have always known that I have passion for acting but my dad didn’t like it. However, when I eventually became famous, he became proud of me.
Tayo has featured in over 70 movies since she came into the limelight. She has also produced about 18 blockbuster movies. She says everyone of them have come to her with ease, with no any challenges, no any issue with marketers according to her. “I can’t recall how many movies I have featured in but the first film I acted in was titled, Hired Assasin. It was an English movie directed by Charles Novia. As of that time, I didn’t even know that I was going to become an actress. A friend of mine had told me to follow her to an audition in Surulere and when we got there I met people like Grace Ama, Ayo Adesanya, late JT Tom West, among others. I acted as a bodyguard to Segun Arinze’s character in that movie. While on that set, Segun Arinze directed me to a woman who was about shooting a Yoruba movie and that was how I really got into the movie industry.
I have produced about 18 movies like Were Alasho, Ikan, Efa, Itu among others. Talking about the challenges and misconceptions of people about some of the artistes in the industry.
About how they interprete their roles and their ways of life, if the profession is actually giving them money as claimed by some of her colleagues who always displayed their assets on social media, Tayo says “people often think that Yoruba actors can’t speak correct English, which is not true. Most of the artistes coming into the industry now are graduates. Even the ones that have been there before, who were not graduates are going back to school.
One problem that we have is that the pay in the industry is very poor and that is why I don’t appear in a lot of movies. The only way we make money is when we produce our movies. Also one of the biggest challenges we have in Nollywood is the issue of piracy. Nowadays, the internet has taken over completely, compared to when I got into the industry. These days, people only watch cable TV, Youtube and other platforms. The number of people who watch terrestial TV has greatly reduced. In a way, it has also killed the industry because people no longer buy DVDs and the marketers are complaining bitterly. We need government to support us so that we can do cinema movies. That way, filmmakers would make money and the audience would also enjoy.
When asked if she is in any relationship and her kind of man. You will recollect that, Tayo romantically linked with a few celebrity in the past. She was once linked to MC Oluomo. She was also linked to Malaika. But all that is in the past.
She says “I am somehow in a relationship right now. My man must be ready made. I also like my man to be very prayerful, loving and caring. I am a very jealous person: I like my man to myself.. I don’t like sharing. I can marry an entertainer because we are in the same industry.