Everybody's favourite 'Sudu', as Nigerian actor Samuel Abiola Robinson is affectionately called, announced his retirement from films, in a long Facebook post today.
The actor who gained fame through Malayalam hit film 'Sudani from Nigeria' wrote: "This last year has been the worst year of my life, I've struggled with intense Depression and was going to end things, i had prepared the rope, the suicide note, everything. This was to be the last picture of me ever. Being an Actor drove me in this direction."
He went on to detail how he had to take care of himself after his parents died and how he managed to find success at 15, entirely due to his hard work. He then elaborated on the circumstances that led him to debate killing himself.
"In the last year and half I've gotten bollywood offers from Rajkumar Santoshi and AIB, Tamil offers with big stars, big nigerian offers, brand endorsements etc came my way as well this last year and a half I got all the offers of my dreams and then lost them all. The Rajkumar Santoshi project with Ranveer Singh got permanently shelved, the AIB project got canceled because of some Assault allegations against its Director, the Tamil project turned out not to be genuine, the Nigerian project got shelved because it was meant to be a Nigerian /South African project and there were recent Attacks on Foreigners in South Africa, I lost the brand endorsement because the Company lost its commercial license at the last minute."
The 'Sudani from Nigeria' actor, who is 21 years old, said he didn't understand why the projects he booked didn't work out for reasons beyond his control. While he was thinking of taking the extreme step, the therapist of a friend intervened and helped him. "I had felt horrible and worthless and like I'd never catch a break so I decided to end my life and wrote that note, i didn't do it thanks to my friends therapist who spoke with me at the last minute after I sent her a message saying Goodbye and she freaked out and had her therapist call me."
The actor credits the mental health care professional for making him realise "acting is just a job, its not worth my life." He wrote: "I am exceptional and Acting lead me to this dark place. No more. Kill myself why? Because of some job? No fuck that!!"
Samuel Robinson ended his post on a positive note, promising to be 'exceptional' in some other fields. "I'll go be exceptional in other things I've had businesses I've wanted to do for many years i had hoped acting would fund, i could be an exceptional programmer or Businessman or Engineer or Doctor... Come on! I learned 7 languages. I can do anything. I'll go be something else exceptional. I've tried."
The Nollywood actor had reportedly put off university to become a full-time actor.
He is scheduled to appear in his second Malayalam film 'Oru Caribbean Udayippu' this year.
In April 2018, the actor had said that he had received inadequate remuneration from 'Sudani from Nigeria' producers Happy Hours Entertainment as he was African. His remarks had drawn criticism. A week later, he apologised and withdrew his allegation of racial discrimination, writing that he had been contacted by the producers and “received confirmation receipt of payment for reasonable sum as salary” for 'Sudani from Nigeria'.
The actor said in a Facebook post: "...I want to state that there is almost completely no Racism in Kerala and I believe Kerala is one of the friendliest places in Asia for an African to visit.”
Zakariya Mohammed's 'Sudani from Nigeria', which won the 2019 Kerala State Film Award for Best Film, revolves around the life of a Nigerian footballer (Samuel Abiola Robinson) who plays for a local "sevens" team in the football-crazy Malappuram. An unfortunate accident, however, brings him closer to the family of his team manager (Soubin Shahir).
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