When Living In Bondage was released in 1992, it rocked Nollywood.
At the time when the movie was shot, not very many people in the private sector had the expertise or the equipment, so
Chris Obi Rapu stepped in to fill the gap, and boy did we love his work!
Undercover
At the time of the movie production, Obi-Rapu was a staff of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and being a government establishment, it was opposed to private practice by its staff. Therefore, Obi-Rapu, who desired to break out on his own, had to work using the pseudonym
Vic Mordi. He was paid ₦10,000 for the project; the entire movie cost ₦150,000 to produce.
Bookworm
He eventually retired as Controller of Programmes at NTA and relocated to the United States, where he acquired a degree in communication and, a graduate degree in organisational psychology and then a PhD.
Opportunities
The chart-buster
Living In Bondage was the pioneering
home video for Nollywood. It made superstars out of the likes of
Kenneth Okonkwo, Kanayo .O. Kanayo, Bob Manuel-Udokwu and
Rita Nzelu. It also paved the way for others who rode on the wave of its success to plunge into the industry.
Obi-Rapu also directed
Evil Passion, Living In Bondage, Circle of Doom and
Taboo. Obi-Rapu is currently back in Nigeria and will be hitting locations soon for a new project which he will be co-directing alongside his daughter, Nkem.
