Bandex Picks Afia Schwarzenegger

IT has been officially confirmed that highly celebrated movie producer Ahmed Banda, popularly known as Bandex, would be the lead judge for the August 31 auditions to find a lead actress for phase three of the ‘Afia Schwarzenegger’ television series.
Bandex, Chief Executive of Bandex Productions, a movie-producing and artiste-management company, would be assisted by three other judges whose identities are yet to be made public.
Bandex can rightly be described as an authority in contemporary Ghanaian movie production considering the endless list of award winning movies he has produced.
The August 31 auditions has already become the subject of news after Samuel Nii Odoi Mensah, president of the Ghana Actors Guild (GAG), publicly threatened to stop the event because the television series belongs to Delores ‘Delay’ Frimpong Manso, who is neither a member of GAG nor the Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG).
Odoi Mensah had told a couple of radio stations in Accra that Delay has no right to organise the auditions and that she was even acting fraudulently by not making her auditions forms free of charge.
“This time, she will not get it easy. If she thinks she knows big men and so she can find her way through, we would also tell her that we are the Ghana Actors Guild. We have been quiet for some time now because we want sleeping dogs to lie but this time if you want to touch us, we would touch you because it is becoming too much…You see, when people come to small limelight, then they want to use it against others. It is not right. It is not right at all,” Nii Odoi Mensah said on Peace FM.

Delay
But Delay has since called Odoi Mensah’s bluff and explained that GAG is not a statutory body that gives license to actors or actresses or decides which actor acts for which producer.
“There is no law in Ghana that states I must be a member of the Ghana Actors Guild or FIPAG before I hold auditions to pick actresses for a TV series for which I write the script, direct the production, select the cast, pay for airtime, pay the cast and crew and even decide which TV station I air it on…
“Mr. Odoi Mensah is an adult and should know that when he says I think I know big men so I can have my way through, it is an insult not only to me, but to the female members of his Actors Guild as well. Who said a woman must know big men before she becomes successful? …He can ask his members not to come for my auditions but he cannot ban any Ghanaian from acting for my series and I wonder how to select a cast without holding auditions,” Delay noted.
Delay explained further that every year, there would be a replacement for the character who plays the role of ‘Afia Schwarzenegger’, the main character in the series.
“This is normal with television series and I do not see why it is raising eyebrows. James Bond is one example that has been played by different characters from time to time and there are a few more examples to show. Another example that readily comes to mind is ‘Superman’. Nana Hemaa is not a kid, if there was a problem for which she was leaving, she would not have hidden it. We had an excellent working relationship and I am still proud of her,” Delores explained.
The series is based on a storyline that has both fiction and non-fiction elements. While several actors on the cast are well-known people who play their real selves, there are other cast members interpreting roles.
The plot is woven around a loud-mouthed braggart, ‘Afia’ who is equally sly and knows how to use her mouth to get almost anything she wants.