Frank Naro has singled out Agya Koo’s absence as one of the major setbacks that Ghana’s movie industry has experienced in recent years.
The actor and musician believes Agya Koo was not only a major star of the Kumawood era but also a performer whose influence shaped the careers and acting styles of many people who entered the industry after him.
Speaking to DJ KA, Naro described Agya Koo as Ghana’s biggest actor and argued that his ability to bring different characters to life made him difficult to replace.
“It is Agya Koo’s influence that brought a lot of actors into the movie scene because everyone wanted to act like Agya Koo. All those who came in later copied him. Whether he was playing an old man, a rich man or a poor man, he had already done it all,” he said.
Naro, who has worked across acting, production and directing, said only a handful of actors managed to move away from Agya Koo’s style and establish their own identities.
He specifically mentioned Bill Asamoah and Akrobeto as examples of performers who developed distinctive approaches to acting.
In his view, the large number of actors attempting to replicate Agya Koo eventually became a problem because audiences were exposed to performances that lacked the originality associated with the veteran.
Naro said viewers had already seen Agya Koo handle similar characters in a way that made the roles memorable, making it difficult for imitations to generate the same excitement.
“That is why I say Agya Koo is the biggest actor in Ghana. We need to honour him. The government or the people of Kumasi need to do something to appreciate him,” he stated.
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The actor also believes the industry’s decline cannot be discussed without considering what happened after Agya Koo became less prominent in mainstream Ghanaian filmmaking.
For Naro, his absence created a gap that the industry has never properly addressed.
“Agya Koo is part of the reason the movies died down. His absence affected the industry. They need to apologise to him because he has really done a great job,” he said.
Naro recalled former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s public recognition of Agya Koo and his contribution to Ghana’s creative arts.
He argued that during his peak, Agya Koo possessed the kind of popularity and comic appeal that could make Ghanaian films compete strongly with Nigerian productions that were becoming increasingly dominant among local audiences.
Naro also rejected accusations that Agya Koo was simply arrogant or difficult to work with.
Instead, he argued that the actor was sometimes judged harshly for standing up for his financial rights after completing jobs.
“If you can’t afford him, let him go. Don’t try to destroy his talent because he asked for his money,” he said.
The discussion also prompted Naro to speak about what he considers a deeper problem within Ghana’s entertainment industry.
He alleged that some executives use their positions to determine which actors receive opportunities while deliberately frustrating others whose careers they do not want to advance.
“I am talking out of pain because they have done it to me too. Some of the executives are wicked. They intentionally sit and discuss who to promote and whose talent to kill. They did it to Kweku Manu and Bill Asamoah,” Naro claimed.