Veteran Nollywood actor Charles Inojie has criticised the current state of the Nigerian movie industry, saying it has become too focused on glamour and appearance at the expense of knowledge and substance.

Speaking during an interview with Chude Jideonwo, Inojie compared the industry today with what it was like in the past, saying, “Too much razzmatazz. Too much cosmetic beauty.”

According to him, passion alone is not enough to succeed in acting, stressing that actors also need a strong knowledge base and proper foundation.

He said, “It went beyond passion. It’s okay to be passionate, but the substance that holds that passion together is what you know the knowledge base that forms your foundation. That is what we lack today.”

The actor also took aim at what he described as the tendency for people to become stars overnight based largely on their physical appearance.

Inojie said, “Any girl feels she’s pretty and in most cases is willing to expose some vital parts of her physiognomy, is a superstar the next day.”

He further blamed the media for contributing to the trend by allegedly hyping people beyond their abilities.

“Sometimes you just hear, ‘Nollywood actress, Nollywood superstar.’ You go look am, ‘Ah, no be no be this same Nollywood we all, all of us gathered dey?’ You know, media just hype people beyond what they can deliver,” he added.