vice and videos 125five days of the shoot, the crew developed an in-group lingo, using words
w it h subt ly erot ic mea n i ng. A lt houg h such behav ior wa s cer ta i n ly beyond
what parents and custodians of the girls and young women involved in
film production would have tolerated, the reality of film sets was definitely
not as f u l l of v ice as t he r umors suggested. One even ing , Binta, a d ivorcée
who earned some money from acting in minor roles and catering for the
crew, mimicked a mobile phone conversation with her uncle: “Yes, surely,
men and women are sleeping in separate rooms,” she told her fictive uncle,
and: “Yes uncle, we also won’t forget to say our prayers five times a day.”
LOCALIZING BOLLYWOODDuring the 1990s, Hausa video films developed out of stage drama
and tv serials. The commercial success of the early films attracted young
cultural entrepreneurs who had backgrounds in the Hausa market lit-
erature movement (littatafan soyayya, literally: “love books”). This move-
figure 4.1
On the set of Salam Salam, Jos, 2003. Photo by the author.