CELEB BUZZ: Catherine Kamau Karanja keeps getting bigger and better

I must admit, I am not a big fan of local film productions the way I am a fan of local music.

For Kenyan movies, I have only watched Nairobi Half Life, Watu Wote, Plan B and…ummmm. All my hair might come off if I continue scratching my head in an effort to remember the other one.

Meanwhile, I can name all 91 films that have ever won the Best Picture award at the Oscars. Weird right? I am just keen on solid and sensible storylines and I always feel that Kenyans films tend to lack in this department.

But for every form of entertainment that you are not interested in, there is always a participant in it that makes you pay attention sometimes. You might not like football but Lionel Messi makes you watch a game or two. You might not like mumble rap but when you hear a new banger from Migos, you lose your mind. You might not like social media comedy but when you see Njugush, you just start laughing before he even says a word.

That’s how I feel about Catherine Kamau aka Kate Actress aka Celina aka Mrs. Karanja. She has a ton of names this one. She should donate some to charity, then take pictures while doing so. When you are a celeb, it’s a sin to help the needy and not show off.

About a week and a half ago, I saw ‘Plan B’ trending on Twitter. I thought the topic was about contraceptives, to be honest. I couldn’t imagine that Plan B would mean anything else.

IMPRESSED AND ENTERTAINED

I decided to check out what people were saying anyway because come on, which young man is interested in sexual health? Shock on me when I found out that it was actually a movie. I went on to check out its poster and guess who was in it? Catherine Kamau. Awesome!

What was even more awesome was that the movie was on YouTube. Kudos to the creators for making it easily available to the general public. I don’t know where most Kenyan movies are usually hidden. They are just too hard to find. For example, I’ve always wanted to watch Disconnect because my crush Brenda Wairimu is in it but I’ve never found it to date.

So I sat down to watch Plan B and I was more than impressed. Not by the movie but by the performance of Catherine Kamau. “Someone take this woman to Hollywood,” I shouted as my friend Aizo (Isaac) stared at me like I was insane.

Catherine, who was the supporting actress, played her role as a true friend and fake lawyer perfectly. She ruled the screen with her star power and talent.

The movie itself was super entertaining but it had plenty of flaws. For example, the speed at which the main male character Dele Coker was converted from a bad guy to good guy was not realistic.

At the beginning of the film, he was a wealthy Nigerian playboy who loved having unprotected sex with strangers and fleeing while they were still sleeping, without saying goodbye. He had apparently paid off and silenced several women that he had impregnated. His receptionist even confirmed that he was a sexual predator.

Just a short while later, he was being portrayed as a good, emotional man capable of falling in love and making a woman happy. No consequences for his actions? And the main character Lisa (Sarah Hassan) didn’t even seem to mind.

It almost felt like the message of the movie was “Look here ladies, Nigerian men have been stereotyped as evil but don’t give up. You can still find a good Nigerian man, okay?”

Lisa (Sarah Hassan) and Joyce (Catherine Kamau) were also portrayed as broke young women yet they lived in a very posh apartment. Damn. Maybe there are no landlords in movies.

KATE ACTRESS

The negatives aside, what the movie truly showed us was that there is no stopping Kate Actress. I believe that many people never noticed the plot holes above because the acting was so good.

Catherine has always done well in whichever project she has worked on. She made a name for herself when she was Celina in “Mother-In-Law” and then she totally blew over when she became a part of “Sue Na Johnnie.”

Even if you’ve never seen any of Catherine’s movies and TV shows, you are still likely to bump into her on social media and like her. Just a few days ago, she won the internet with her version of the resurrection challenge that was trending. Conservatives didn’t like it though.

I remember how I was once sitting next to two ladies at a restaurant and Kate entered. One of the ladies shouted “Wauuu! Ndio huyo Celina, ule actress wa Sue na Jonnie.” Then her friend responded with. “Haiya! Kwani she acts? Like in movies? I know her from IG and I love her pics and short videos,”

It’s interesting that both of these women came to love her for very different reasons. And it’s amazing how far she has come.

During a recent interview on Sunday Nation’s Buzz magazine, she confidently stated that she is the best paid actress currently residing in the country.

Although she didn’t give figures to back up her claim, we can believe her because Lupita isn’t living in Kenya and for the rest of the actresses, there is none that’s currently more popular than her.

She also revealed that her first pay was Sh1,000 per episode. And just 10 years ago, she was very broke and still living in her mother’s house with her child. Now that’s coming from far.

As we Kenyans love to say “Ni Mungu tu aki!”

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