Ronnie Nyakale's back on
Rhythm City as Ding Dong and he's as bad as ever. He arrived on the scene last week for a three-month storyline involving payback on a debt owed by Stone.
Or, more accurately, Stone's family. Stone, who's taken on the family debt, was unaware that Ding Dong was involved with the collectors he owes. Now he has to pay the money back by working as Ding Dong's debt collector.
Ronnie's list of credits reads like a collection of Wanted posters: Papa Action on Yizo Yizo, Sylvester on A Place Called Home, Inno in eKasi: Our Stories, Zakes in Jerusalema and controversial news headlines.
I chatted to him for us to find out how
bad he is:
Tashi: Out of all the characters who've played, who's the baddest out of everyone?
Ronnie: I'd say Papa Action - he took the country by storm. There's also a character I did, Shadow, in a short film called Portrait of a Young Man Drowning.
They introduce him at the point where he's looking for redemption. It picks up at the point where he's wanting to change. Looking at his history, knowing that he did 1,2,3,4 - to me, I'd say Shadow was the hardest one.
Tashi: What's the baddest thing you've ever done?
Ronnie: I'll go for the matters of the people I've disappointed - the people I've hurt so much. I'll go with a number ... I don't know, it could be a million, it could be more than a million.
Tashi: That's a
lot of people.
Ronnie: A lot of people, yes, maybe the whole country.
Tashi: How did you manage that?
Ronnie: Through deciding: "You know what Ronnie, you're undergoing this process now and therefore you're not going to do 1,2,3,4."
At the time people were expecting me to do 1,2,3,4 and I couldn't - it was when I was deciding not to do Yizo Yizo and that disappointed my fans, my production house, I disappointed my agent, I disappointed my family, I disappointed everybody.
It became a painful process that decision of saying" "You know what Ronnie, this is the stand that you're taking." The day will come that I'll come back and with the work that I present it will be all about my apologies.
Tashi: Why did you decide not to do it?
Ronnie: At the moment I'm not comfortable revealing it.
Tashi: So nobody knows?
Ronnie: No, no, my production house knew the reason, my agent knew, my mom knew the reason and my true friends.
There was a close friend of mine - we graduated together at drama school - and he said: "Ronnie you can't decide to be the sacrificial lamb of the whole industry."
There were moments where it was really painful and I thought I'd made a mistake but seven years later when I came back with Jerusalema and a A Place Called Home it was like: "You know what? Was it a prophecy or what?"
I think it had to be done - not that to say I've achieved things but I'm happy, as much as my production house was sad. We're all victims of me not doing Yizo Yizo but there are other stories to tell.
Tashi: Will you ever reveal the reason?
Ronnie: It's a very sensitive issue that can go back to disturb the people that I distrubed at that moment.
Tashi: Will it be a secret for forever?
Ronnie: No, no, there'll be a time when we'll sit down to discuss. There are people who can tell stories, people who are writers. It's just a pity that we lack writers in terms of telling stories like this. I believe that if we were in another country, the story would have been told by now: why this thing happened this way.
Ding Dong one-eye'ing his prey.
Tashi: What's the baddest story that's ever been written about you in the press?
Ronnie: Lots of things have been written about me but there's one that disturbed me terribly. It disturbed me because it came from somebody who I thought would have concentrated on developing the industry.
It was when
it was announced in the media that I kidnapped a journalist. It disturbed me and affected my career so bad. Things were taken away from me, I had to reconnect, I had to revisit myself and say: "Ronnie, it's all about the moment, it's all about today not tomorrow - you'll be strong, wake-up."
Tashi: Did you kidnap a journalist?!
Ronnie: My story is this, it's simple and clear: I kidnapped
no-one. I learnt so much in terms of how the story was created and hopefully one day, I'll be able to tell the story in my own art craft - how members of parliament are being targeted, people who are in the limelight.
There was a moment in court when the journalist admitted that they sometimes sit around the table and discuss who to target.
It disturbed me
so much, thinking: "My career is collapsing now because of people telling stories the way they want to tell the stories in terms of giving the world information."
It disturbed me but I'm not saying that I have grudges to journalists. With me, in my own world, wherever I am, I forgave him. I don't want to think about things that will never make me grow.
I've moved on - I actually created a room to accept and say: "Ronnie, move on." I don't have any grudges - he had his story and the time will come when I will artisitically tell my story, the way I witnessed it in terms of the way the game's being played.
Tashi: There was a court case about it?
Ronnie: Ja there was and finally we were acquitted because of all the complicated stories different journalists put in the papers. The magistrate read all the papers and things were the other way round and we were never found guilty.
Tashi: What's the baddest thing happening to you right now?
Ronnie: That I'm not able to produce my own work. I'm trying by all means to tell my stories, I write, I direct, there's a script that I've had for almost three years now.
Yes, we lack resources, but to me it's not about lacking resources it's about the vision that one has in terms of making it possible. The day will come when I say: "Ronnie, it's about time you tell your story."
Tashi: What's been your baddest experience as an actor?
Ronnie: What I've noticed is that people are now understanding that we're acting - it's different to 10 years back - people were like: "You are really Papa Action."
At that time I stopped going to public places as in going to parties, clubs and so on. I stopped completely because the moment I got there, within 15 minutes there would be somebody who tried to be like Papa Action and somebody would get hurt or somebody would die.
I've seen several people shot in front of my eyes 'cos of them wanting to prove to me that they're better baddies than Papa Action.
Tashi: Whaaaaat?
Ronnie: Yeah, there was guy who was shot, that was the first victim - it was Christmas Eve, and you know how the fever of Christmas is all over - friends together, moving from one place to the other.
There was a Christmas bash and there were these two guys and you know when there's a celeb, the first thing was a reaction from the girls. You know, "Woooo Papa Action!!!"
So it was a warm welcome and all of a sudden, it was hardly like 10 minutes, one was shot. Someone said to me: "Ronnie, take the other door to leave," and these two guys came to my car and they wanted the owner of the car.
They weren't even 15 steps from the car and they wanted the owner and they couldn't even see at that moment. Suddenly they realised they're taking time here, things will be bad for them and they vanished.
Tashi: Did they shoot to impress the girls?
Ronnie: No, not to impress the girls but rather taking a stand to be popular in the township. If they could target Papa Action, they'd be better known as the baddie. It was all about that.
Tashi: Who's your baddest bad-ass?
Ronnie: Locally, Ronnie Nyakale. *
laughs* Papa Action came as a hard-core, bad character that influenced society so much. It was my first work, my first approach to the small screen. He paved the way for Sylvester, he paved the way for Ding Dong so for me, I go for Papa Action.
Internationally, there's a lot of competition, I'm not sure. Denzel played so well in American Gangster and Al Pacino in Scarface and Robert De Niro was so perfect in Heat. John Travolta was so good together with Nicholas Cage in Face/Off.
Ends
For the film Portrait Of A Young Man Drowning, check out:
the video here.