I don’t know how many people have seen or heard about the hot MTV Base series “Shuga” which was first aired in November 2009 on MTV. The first season which featured fast rising Hollywood star Lupita N’yongo was received with much love and has been running since then, in several African countries.
The first and second seasons were shot and filmed in Kenya with Kenyan actors but featured some major Nigerian musicians including”P Square” and “Flavour”. The makers of this series decided not only to shoot season three in Nigeria but also settled for Nigerian actors.
At first many “Shuga” fans like myself were a little skeptical about the season’s success but after watching faithfully from episode to episode, those of us who had doubts were proven wrong.
Anyone who watched all the episodes of season three religiously would agree that it is one of the best drama series to be shot in Africa in recent times. They used young, fresh and never seen screen actors and they delivered! Except for a few known faces like our very own Chris Attoh and his on-screen wife Leonora Okine who we might have seen around for a while.
Season three has ended, everyone is looking forward to season four and my greatest anticipation is whether or not it would still be shot in Nigeria. If it will be shot in Nigeria I would have no problem with it but if it would be brought to Ghana, then whichever director they put in charge of it should learn a thing or two from what our brothers and sisters in Nigeria did.
I have already mentioned the fact that the new faces they used worked perfectly and they performed way better than some of the actors we already know. We are tired of seeing the same old faces in the same old roles. Ghanaian directors who are put in charge of “Shuga” should scout for new talents, open auditions and if possible get young actors or actresses in their teens or early twenties to still maintain that fresh atmosphere in “Shuga.”
If you should pick a veteran actor, pick ones who can really act and pull up a performance like the impressive one Chris Attoh pulled in season 3. It is very important that we see something positive and different when the time comes for it to be shot in Ghana.
There are too many talented but struggling young actors looking for ground breaking opportunities like these, it’s time for movie makers in this country to stop the favoritism and explore for once!
is as if i wrote this article…I’ve been watching shuga since it aired and i love how refreshing and unique each actor and actress have been so far. I have got a feeling season 4 will be shot in Ghana as well and if they do i really really hope we don’t see no Jackie Appiah, Yvonne Nelson, Majid Mitchel, John Dumelo and so forth…we need new young talented people with their own individual style that speak in their own Ghanaian accent or i should say no ‘fake accent’….what they should remember is that ‘shuga’ ain’t just another TV show is a platform to show the rest of the world what Africa as a whole can do.
It’s a nice series
Ghana? buahahaha! Ain’t nobody wanna see your Charcoal faces bruh!