Maame Dokono, born Grace Omaboe, has lamented the current state of Ghana's film industry.

"I look at it and I laugh in my head because I don’t see much lessons in [the movies] they are doing these days," she said on Asaase Radio.

"I watch it for the fun of it," she added, her point being film must go beyond its recreational value.

Casting

"During our time," she contrasted, "we were not many, just a few of us. When someone played the role of a father, he was an old man, an elderly man; he was not made up with moustache and all that powder and all that.”

Kumawood

"I remember one time they asked me to come and do a Kumawood movie and somebody was supposed to play my husband. I said, ah, how can a small boy like this play my husband?" the movie legend cited.

"Maybe I should mention the name. Lil Win. Playing my husband. No, it can’t happen. I will not play [that role] because what at all is he going to tell me?" she bemoaned. "So I didn’t play [the role] and they got angry with me."

Social media

Maame Dokono expressed disapproval of the acting she sees on social media.

"When I look at social media… I say, what is this? You know, it’s like a joke,” she worried.

Meagre pay

The Obra star noted how poor payment was wrecking the movie industry by discouraging talented and experienced actors, leaving crucial roles to greenhorns who are hungry for fame.

"The second part is I think there is no pay. The pay, the allowance, or what [actors] get out of it, isn’t enough. Now, for instance, if you are old, you are married, and you have children, you must have sufficient income to support them. But if you are acting today, your income or allowance will not cover your expenses.

"So you will not act. So you leave it to the children [inexperienced] to act. And that is why they are destroying the thing," the famous storyteller and TV star asserted.

Unlike in Nigeria where filmmakers and actors are "paid well," she bemoaned, her home country, "Ghana, there is no reward for whatever they do".