"Bloody Indians. Can't you read English?" a British soldier scornfully asks Manikarnika.
"I can read English. It's a mere language. Just words. Words without culture have no meaning." Manikarnika responds.
It has always been that way. Language is part of a culture. Language goes hand in hand with culture. You cannot separate the two and expect to pass a message. Film producers and directors must be careful when selecting the language in their films and television series. When you choose a language that does not match the culture of your setting, then your work is bound to fail. I have seen how Kenyan producers grapple with the choice of language for use in their films and tv series.
Kenya has several local languages. Then there is Kiswahili, the national language, and English, the official language. Most Kenyan producers select English for their production. That is why they fail, and the Kenyan film industry remains stunted.
Creating a Kenyan movie in English is suicidal. Virtually, Kenyans do not speak English at home or even at work. English is a language of official papers and documents only. Most Kenyans speak Kiswahili or their mother tongue. Thus, when a film is in English, it becomes unrealistic and boring at best.
A Kenyan tv series, Makutano Junction, was produced in English. It failed to attract public attention because it used English. The portrayal of a local chief, politicians, and market women speaking English buried it. Virtually no local leader in Kenya speaks to residents in English. Additionally, no market women speak English among themselves and their customers in this nation. People could not watch it since it did not show the genuine Kenyan society. It needed to speak the language Kenyans understand.
A film needs to be accurate to succeed. A film achieves reality only when it upholds the culture of its setting. That is why India's, Nigeria's, and Tanzania's film industries are experiencing immense growth today. They are true to their cultural settings. Indians produce their movies in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, and other local languages. Those are the languages most Indians speak. These are the suitable languages to use to depict a particular issue in Indian society successfully. Using a foreign language in an Indian film is like producing a Nazi film in Kiswahili.
Most Nigerian films use Nigerian pidgin English, the most common language in Nigeria. Most people love these movies since pidgin English helps them portray authentic Nigerian society.
The Tanzanian film industry has also emerged strongly due to its use of Kiswahili, Tanzania's national language. Its films and tv series, such as Huba and Kapuni, are popular across East Africa due to their use of Kiswahili. Thus, one learns that realism is the key to the success of a film, and language plays a crucial role in making a film genuine.
Besides foreign languages making films unreal, they also make actors struggle to perform. In Makutano Junction, several actors struggle to express themselves and their emotions in English. The actors in Indian films produced in English also struggle a lot with using English. These struggles result in low-quality films since actors need to express themselves better, damaging their producers' reputations.
Unfortunately, most producers argue that they must use English in their creations because it makes them reach a wider audience. They should know that using English does them more harm than good. It makes them produce substandard films that cannot relate to and communicate to any audience. Additionally, they should learn from Indian, Nigerian, and Tanzanian film industries that one can only reach, penetrate and establish themselves in the international arena by being authentic in his production. Indian films are typical in Kenya, yet very few Kenyans speak Hindi. Hollywood films dominate the world because they are true to the American culture rather than because many people understand English.
Culturally-relevant language makes a film real. Thus films must be culturally competent by using the appropriate language to achieve success. This simple trick shows why a series like Selina have gained national fame. Producers, choose your productions' languages wisely.
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