Chika Ike has been in the faces of the millions of Nigerians who have painstakingly loved and watched Nollywood grow over the last two decades.

The Nollywood star was a guest in our studio on Thursday, January 16, 2020, where we got to talk about her new movie, 'Small Chops.' The gorgeous actress didn't have to do so much for everyone in the studio to know that she wasn't just any actress but one with style and doses of class and royalty (teased her about it).

Well, for those who haven't met Chika Ike personally, we can authoritatively tell you guys that she is one calm, beautiful, intelligent and insanely confident woman. 

We settled into the studio and chatted for a while about the movie, 'Small Chops' and everything that went behind the scene to make the movie a reality. First thing we got to ask the actress and producer was the inspiration behind the movie.

"What inspired Small chops were life's events, things around me, things I see around me on social media, things I hear from friends, things going around different industries, the churches, and mosques, schools, workplace, about sexual abuse and also about personal experiences of being an actress, perception, labeling, unconscious bias on people when they try to judge you and put you in a box, so these things inspired Small Chops," she said.

One interesting thing about the movie 'Small Chops' is the fact that the name of the lead character (Played by Chika Ike herself), Nikita is actually the same as the very first lead character role (Bless a Child) she ever played.

For anyone to have the likes of Nkem Owoh, Toyin Abraham, Nse Etim Nkpe and Eucharia Anunobi in one movie must have taken a lot or the script was an instant hit to these Nollywood greats. We asked Chika how she was able to pull the A-list cast for her movie.

"It took a lot of effort, it took a lot of thought process to get to this point. We had a lot of meetings, we consulted, we wanted people that apart from the fact they were A-list in their game, also we wanted people that could carry that character and interpret the role, that could leave that character and I am grateful that they were able to bring their A-game and deliver. These are professionals in the field, we don't expect less from them, we expect A game and every other thing from them. I'm glad that people love them, I'm glad that they have a huge fan base and I'm glad that they did wonderful in the movie," she said.

For Chika Ike, working with Nkem Owoh was amazing. According to her, apart from his being very fluid, he kept everyone laughing on set throughout the movie. She also added that the actor brought his veteran experience on set which was very helpful.

Nikita in 'Small Chops' showcases the life of a dancer and all the hurdles she had to go through in life for survival. Chika Ike shared with us how she was able to come up with the story and turned it into a beautiful well-told movie.

"First of all I drafted the story of the film. I have had the story for four years. I have always wanted to tell the story of perception, labelling because I for one have experienced it in my career. People just see you and say 'oh you are an actress' and have this misconception about you when they don't even know you. So I thought about it and also I got the help of some amazing scriptwriters. They came on board and we actually broke it into pieces, adding the flesh into the skeleton and we made it work. Nikita was actually very challenging playing, I would say for one it was really challenging playing her beyond the fact that I am not a dancer.

"I won't even consider myself a good dancer in real life but I had to live Nikita, I had to go through dance classes, intense ones, really intense dance classes, I had sores, there were sores all over, it was a lot of flexibility, I had to be on the floor rolling my bum, it was crazy. I had to do it because I had to live Nikita. It was eight weeks of practice and also I had to go on dreads because Nikita was on dreads in the film. I had to live through her so I was on dreads for three months and also I got coaches...I have not gone through half of what she had gone through in the movie so I had to find ways to live her life," she said.

While Chika Ike was talking about not going through half of what the character Nikita went through in the movie, 'Small Chops,' something clicked and I had to take the actress down memory lane to 2018 in her book 'Boss Up' where she went in-depth on all the trials and tribulations she went through, especially in her failed marriage.

"The truth about it is that I struggled with this book for seven years. It wasn't something that just came from nowhere. It was a struggle to even release this book. It was a seven-year process and throughout these seven years, I consulted, I had coaching, I had a lot of talks with people and the truth about it is that everything in that book was the truth. I didn't have the fear that he was as much as come for me because I didn't really say something out of the ordinary in terms of the domestic violence I faced in my marriage. Everything I wrote in the book was the truth and this is my truth, I can't lie about it, this is my story which is my truth. And whatever I said was the truth. I'm not trying to defame him or make him look bad which I didn't even do in the book. I just talked about my story, what I went through. I'm sure that it wasn't negative for him. If he didn't do those things, it won't be said, right?" she said.

Despite her first failed marriage and previous relationships which didn't end well, Chika Ike believes marriage is an amazing institution that everyone would love to experience. She also hopes to get married someday and have kids.

For revenue, Chika Ike believes the movie is going to be great because of the effort that was put in to create an amazing job. She hopes and believes the movie will do very well in the cinemas. Surprisingly, she revealed to us that the movie has already won fifteen awards internationally.

"Beyond even the cinemas right now, Small Chops has actually won fifteen international awards from different countries: India, Venezuela, Rome and I think if it can be given a mark of approval by these international bodies, it means that Nigerians can resonate with the film and love the film. I think they will get their monies worth," she said.

To round off our chat with Chika Ike, I curiously asked what was the one major role she has always dreamt of playing that she hasn't been able to get cast for.

"A role I'd like to play is a role that would challenge me to learn a language. I want to play a role where i'll have to learn a different language like French, Spanish or even as much as something like Hausa ...like really speak it well. I want to challenge myself because I'm not really fast with languages so I'd love to play a role where I'd have to speak a language that I'm not even used to, that would challenge me more," she confessed.

On a final note, Chika Ike chipped in on the controversial topic of the category of movies that are shown in cinemas. For the actress, it is all dependent on the people behind the movie as you can't really tell which movie would do well in the cinemas.

'Small Chops' will be showing in the cinemas across the country from January 31, 2020. Fans and admirers of Chika Ike should expect to see a different side of their favourite actress.