| Mokalik | |
| Director: | Kunle Afolayan |
| Producer: | Kunle Afolayan |
| Screenplay: | Tunde Babalola |
| Story: | Kunle Afolayan |
| Starring: | Toni Afolayan Femi Adebayo Tobi Bakre |
| Music: | Kentoxygen Egunjobi |
| Studio: | Golden Effects Pictures/Africa Magic |
| Distributor: | FilmOne |
| Runtime: | 99 minutes |
| Country: | Nigeria |
| Language: | English Yoruba |
| Gross: | ₦46.9million[1] |
Mokalik (English: Mechanic) is a 2019 Nigerian bilingual comedy drama film produced and directed by veteran filmmaker Kunle Afolayan. The film stars newcomer Toni Afolayan in the male lead role along with Femi Adebayo. The film had its theatrical release on 31 May 2019 and received extremely positive reviews from critics while also performing well at the box office.[2] [3] It was acquired by Netflix in July 2019 and was streamed on 1 September 2019.[4] [5] The film has been included as a part of "Made in Africa" collection in May 2020 by Netflix to be streamed amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.[6] [7] The film was also nominated for the Best Film category during the 2019 Durban International Film Festival. The film was also premiered in several film festivals.
The story revolves around an 11-year-old boy Ponmile (Toni Afolayan), who is from the middle class suburbs and spends the day as a lowly apprentice at a mechanic workshop in order to view and glance on life from other angles. When his father arrives to take him home, Ponmile has to make up his mind if he wants to return to school or take on his apprenticeship full-time on a long-term basis.
The filmmaker Kunle Afolayan cast his nephew Toni Afolayan in the main lead role who also eventually made his acting debut. Popular singer Simi also made her acting debut through this project and Tobi Bakre who participated in the Big Brother Naija (season 3) also made his acting debut. The film was predominantly shot in a mechanical village and also in Agege and Lagos.[8] The post-production works were done in Nigeria. The film was shot with a special flexible cinema camera Canon EOS C300 Mark II camera. The film director revealed that this film was made with the intention of releasing it in Yoruba language as it was his first major film in the Yoruba language.[9]
Nollywood Post in its review[10] praised the movie's accuracy "The drama, the mischief, the retail stores, the canteen, the graduation ceremony down to the costumes, excessive make-up use, and the chain of command in an environment like that was accurately portrayed."