Is Tikuferanji still focused?

Tikuferanji—an edutainment soap that airs on State owned MBCTV weekly—has seen its fare share of lows: from being taken off air for touching on raw political nerves to losing some of its prominent actors.

That, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. There have been observations—some apt, others petty—from some avid followers of the soap that it has lost focus and direction, is insipid with recycled jokes and weak punch lines, is devoid of relevance and has become a vanity project to promote the artistic talents of one man to the exclusion of everyone else.

Producer of the programme, Michael Usi—who plays the central, mischievous character called Manganya in the soap—is no stranger to controversy, especially during the reigns of former presidents Bingu Wa Mutharika and Joyce Banda who found his private film productions and the soap not in their political taste.

However, Usi, who is also deputy director at Adventist Relief Agency (Adra) Malawi—which sponsors the programme—told Society last week that such observations are wide of the mark.

“That’s quite interesting. Who judges the going astray of the soap? When they say the programme has gone astray or lost direction, do they mean we have discussed something that they find distasteful?” wondered Usi.

One accusation people have made is that the programme has focused more on politics and other ‘irrelevant’ subjects instead of HIV and Aids—for which it was conceived—but Usi contends that such an observation misses the point by a mile because Tikuferanji’s mission is to deal with issues that affect society, including politics.

“I tell Tikuferanji actors to do an objective job. It’s possible that some people may not be happy with us because we have touched on raw nerves and I accept that. But the nation must understand that what the actors or even I say there doesn’t represent me as Michael Usi; it represents the truth,” he said.

Usi further defended the relevance of the soap as evidenced by the return of some of its pioneer actors such as Bon Kalindo aka Winiko, Frank Yalu (Nginde) and Jacobs Mwase (Zakaria).

“The soap is getting more and more relevant. In fact, those three have come back to confirm its relevance and not to help me bring back the programme on it rails,” he said.

Usi dismissed suggestions that the three actors departed initially from the soap after he crossed paths with them.

“As a matter of fact, Winiko himself has been calling me on several occasions applauding me on the quality of the production, including the sincerity, mission and objectivity of the programme.

“So their coming back is to join what Malawians have regarded as a relevant programme; nobody of their calibre would want to join a ship that’s sinking.

“People need to understand that it is the storyline which determines which actor to feature. Actors don’t come up with storylines; they just come in to act. So, the supposed going astray of the programme has nothing to do with actors, but the agenda of the day and the season,” he said.

Usi emphasised that people who deem the soap to have gone astray are displeased with what has been discussed in the production.

He also rubbished rumours that he does not like to have talent of great potential in the production and that he prefers to be the only star of the programme.

“Not at all. I am the producer of the soap, it’s my brainchild and if I wanted to be the star, I wouldn’t have brought in the likes of Winiko, Nginde or Mlaka Maliro.

“For your information, I even pleaded with them not to leave in the first place and people should also be made aware that every year I take a four month break from acting in the soap.

“Those are my friends and the reason they left Tikuferanji was because they had been offered some contracts by government that time,” said Usi.

The biggest problem, Usi argued, is that most people don’t understand the agenda of the programme.

He then disclosed that even though some people at MBC TV frown upon it, the majority support the soap.

“Most of them encourage us to proceed the way we are doing except for a few who feel uncomfortable with some issues we tackle,” said Usi.

But Film Association of Malawi president Isaiahs Mkandawire feels the major drawback with the soap is that it revolves around the same character, which is bad for its concept and agenda.

“It’s relevant in terms of providing HIV and Aids messages, but I find problems in the sense that it mainly revolves around Manganya who is a mischievous character. This doesn’t augur on well with the idea and mission behind the soap. But generally it serves its purpose and it’s normal to step on people’s toes in the course of doing a good job,” said Mkandawire.n