Khadijatul Iman Sani Danja is 11 years old, but she has already become a household name within Hausa-inclined entertainment industry, Kannywood. This upcoming actress speaks on how she started, her roles and other issues in this brief interview with ALIYU ASKIRA.
How it all began
She started acting at the age of 11 months; this, according to her, is because her mother, Mansura Isah, and father, Sani Danja, are famous actors and actresses who had made tremendous impact on the entertainment industry. Sani Danja at a point relocated to Abuja when the Kano state government under Governor Malam Ibrahim Shekarau put serious pressure on some of them under the name of Sharia implementation.
Lead roles
Recently, Khadijatul Iman was given a lead role in a powerful Hausa movie Akeelah that is now being watched in cinemas all over the North. It was produced by her mother, Mansura.
You are just coming out from watching the film, Akeelah, produced by your mother, Mansura, which is being premiered in a cinema in Ado Bayero Shopping Mall; what is your impression of the film?
I am extremely delighted particularly after watching the role that I played in the film even though I am just 11 years old. One thing that also made me happier was the fact that I watched the film alongside my parents, even as other stakeholders in Kannywood also came and watched the film with their children who are also acting and after the film, they were all over me; this has made me to be proud of myself and my parents.
Is this your first film and what is its focus; I mean what exactly does it aim to achieve?
Honestly, both my father and mother Sani Danja and Mansura Isah are famous actors and actresses and they travelled a lot; that is why the focus of the film is on how to maintain a successful united home. May be they are challenging me on how to be in charge of family when I become of age, because my mother used to challenge me to read hard and graduate and also be deeply religious by paying attention to my Qur’anic education. So, I look at the film as a direct challenge to me, because in the film I featured alongside all my brothers and sisters, very interesting film to say the least; but I suffered t lot to make it a success because the shooting was tedious.
How many films have you featured in so far?
My parents started featuring me in films when I was 11 months old and since then, I have featured in several films. Thereafter, I disappeared to concentrate on my studies, but recently I, alongside Ali Nuhu’s son Ahmed Nuhu, produced or rather featured in a successful movie captioned Buri Uku A Duniya, and the next is the one we are talking about, which is Akeelah.
Will you go into full-time acting after graduation?
No, I like challenges and travelling; as such, I want to be a pilot, I will travel out of the country and enrol in one of the best aviation universities and graduate as a pilot. However, if it is destined that I will end up as an actress, so be it, after all both my mother and father are in the entertainment industry and they are very successful. They met in Kannywood, fell in love, got married and the marriage is now over 10 years as you can see, I am 11 years already. So, this is to dispel the notion that Kannywood actors and actresses are only school drop-outs that are only good in taking drugs.
There was this rumour that your parents are grooming you to marry Ali Nuhu’s son, Ahmad; what is your reaction to this?
Long laughter… ba gaskiya bane, our parents are family friends and the relationship is so strong that people are speculating about what you are alleging. Ahmad is like my blood brother, my father Sani Danja and Ali Nuhu are both successful in their own chosen careers and people are free to speculate, but there is nothing like that.
