Toyin Abraham: I spent N500m on ‘Malaika’, had panic attacks over piracy

Toyin Abraham, the Nollywood producer and actress, says the production of her latest movie ‘Malaika’ cost her almost N500 million.

‘Malaika’ premiered in Lagos on December 17. It also made its theatrical debut on December 22.

The Lagos police command had earlier arrested five suspects over the alleged piracy of the movie.

The suspects were alleged to have fraudulently accessed the movie, uploaded it on their website and created a streaming web link for their social media followers worldwide to freely view the movie.

Reacting to the arrest, Abraham said she experienced panic attacks and was hospitalised after she found out about the piracy of her movie.

The actress said she shot the movie with “close to N500 million”. She said she has taken up the fight against film pirates for the benefit of everyone in the entertainment industry.

“I am actually not okay, I had to come from the hospital. I have been having panic attacks,” she said.

“It is not easy shooting a movie with close to N500 million and you will just see it out there. I saw my movie and another movie, I was like am I dreaming?

“And the next thing they put it on Telegram, telling people that they are going to upload it. I opened the link and I saw Malaika, I wanted to run mad. It was like my whole world was coming to an end right in front of me.

“I started crying but my manager started making calls. We tried to get in touch with Google and Telegram and they started breaking the links. But I know a lot of people still have it.

“I was desperate and went on Telegram to beg those guys because I did not know what to do. This is my life, this is the only thing I do. That is why I have taken it upon myself to fight piracy.”