African actor Samuel Robinson, who played the title role in Malayalam film Sudani From Nigeria, alleged that he faced racial discrimination from the makers of the film.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Robinson said he was paid far less than his co-actors who are “not half as popular, experienced or accomplished” as he is. He claims he came to know about it after his discussion on payments with other young actors.
“I am of the opinion that this happened purely because of my skin color and the assumption that all Africans are poor and don't know the value of money,” Robinson said.
He claimed that he was promised to be paid more if the film became successful, but those promises were not honoured. “I believe the promises were simply tools of manipulation to get me to eagerly commit the 5 months of availability for work being October, November, December 2017, January and March 2018 for the shoot and promotion of the movie,” he said in his post.
In another post, Robinson said he had "wholeheartedly" supported the promotion of the movie in expectation of a positive financial compensation before returning to Nigeria as was promised.
"I am offended and feel that it is unfair that i should have this much unexpected scrutiny on my activity and general life without the cushion of decent financial payments which could have easily been afforded by the producers," he said.
The film, which released on March 23, was a commercial success. It tells the story of a Nigerian football player who joins a club in Malappuram, Kerala for the sevens football match.