Actor Kunle Remi has addressed the criticism trailing his love scene with his onscreen wife Bimbo Ademoye in Kunle Afolayan’s Anikulapo.
Anikulapo is the story of Saro, a travelling clothe weaver, who was beaten to death for having an affair with the Alaafin’s youngest wife.
A mystical bird brings him back to life, leaving behind a gourd with the power to raise the dead.
In one of the love scenes, the king’s wife – played by Bimbo Ademoye – took off her clothes before having sex with Saro – played by Kunle Remi.
Social media users reacted in collective astonishment at the sight of the queen’s breasts and Kunle’s butt, sparking a debate about the actors going nude.
Addressing the matter in an Instagram live session, Kunle defended the act, saying that the scene was necessary to the plot and their characters’ development. In his words:
“A lot of people say the nude scene was not necessary, but I’m gonna say this; as an engineer, I can’t tell you how to engineer, as an accountant I can’t tell you how to do your accounting. As a chef, I cant teach you how to cook so as an actor you can’t tell me how far or what I should do in my job.
That scene for us symbolised the moment when we were so vulnerable. Anyways Nigerians are hypocrites. But that was the most vulnerable moment for these characters and that was the first time they genuinely made love”.
Set in the 17th-century Oyo Empire, the movie also stars actors like Sola Sobowale, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Taiwo Hassan, Faithia Williams, Aisha Lawal, Ronke Oshodi-Oke, Dele Odule, Yinka Quadri and Adebayo Salami.