Even if her name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, Somkele Idhalama’s presence in Nollywood history is sealed by one unforgettable moment: the stinging, perfectly timed slap she delivered to Beverly Naya’s character in ‘The Wedding Party’. It became one of the most replayed scenes of the 2010s, a shorthand for the version of Idhalama’s audiences came to know: effortlessly memorable.
Her long absence from Nigerian screens created the perception that she had vanished from the industry. she finds the perception mildly baffling. “I never left,” she declares. “You haven’t seen me on the Nigerian screens, but I’ve been on different screens.” She has kept working, just not within Nollywood. But on the AFRIFF red carpet this year, she walked in to warm greetings and genuine surprise, the kind that made it clear audiences had missed her more than she realised.
What they also don’t know is that ‘3 Cold Dishes’, Asurf Oluseyi’s latest cinematic release, almost became the project that returned her formally to Nollywood. She has known Asurf for years and worked closely with him and cinematographer KC Obiajulu on a short film shot “By the Water”, as she recalls, one that featured her late colleague Karibi Fubara. When ‘3 Cold Dishes’ was in early development, she received the script and was invited into the audition process. “I was privy to the script,” she reveals, noting that the director was transparent about who he was considering. She read for a role, knowing it could go to any of the performers in the mix.
Osas Ighodaro eventually secured the part, a choice Idhalama immediately understood. “By the time I saw that he went with Osas, I was like, ‘yeah, she’s going to do phenomenal.'” She watched the completed film during AFRIFF’s opening night and was struck first by its visual language. She remembers admiring the cinematography before realising KC was behind it. “I was like, ‘wow, this cinematography is so good,'” she says, smiling at the memory of him walking onstage for the crew presentation.
Her familiarity with the script added an extra layer to the experience of watching the film. The details she had encountered on paper, its exploration of trauma, migration, and the violence of exploitation, were now refracted through Ighodaro’s performance and Asurf’s direction. It was not her comeback project after all, but she treats it with the respect of someone who understands how films evolve and how roles find their rightful actors.
The themes of the film touch on issues Somkele Idhalama feels strongly about, particularly the underworld of trafficking and exploitation that Nigerian cinema has only recently begun to depict with consistent seriousness. She references earlier projects like Òlòturé but insists there is still much to confront. “It’s terrible how easily it can happen,” she says, noting how porous borders and economic desperation create conditions that criminal networks exploit. The actress is glad that films are documenting these realities rather than ignoring them and hopes awareness translates into action.
Discussions about the film’s emphasis on women’s autonomy draw a firm response from her. “It’s always been about more than what your body has to offer,” she states. To her, the body is simply a vessel that allows “spirit beings”, as she phrases it, to operate in the world. The worth of a woman, in her view, lies in what she creates and contributes, not in how she is appraised physically.
The film’s meditation on revenge prompts a similarly philosophical response. She believes the desire for retaliation is valid but ultimately futile. “The punishment will never take back what you’ve felt,” she cautions. Scars remain long after surface wounds heal, and no retaliatory act, no matter how dramatic, erases the original injury. For her, forgiveness—difficult and often unsatisfying—is the only exit from that cycle.
Idhalama’s message to young women seeking “greener pastures” reframes migration as both literal and symbolic. “The desert can be figurative,” she says. Even in glamorous spaces, people can be thirsty for things “that do not satisfy”. The warning is subtle but clear: danger is not confined to physical journeys; it can also exist in ambition, desire, and the pursuit of validation.
To audiences still hoping for her full return to Nollywood, she offers a simple assurance: “I’m here. You’re going to see something pretty cool.”
