Comedians strike back during the upcoming summer season, writes Mohamed El-Assyouti, but singers vie for a share too Both Amr Diab and Mohamed Fouad -- among the most successful pop singers of the 1980s -- ventured into film. The former starred opposite Madiha Kamel in Hossameddin Mustafa's Al-Afarit (Demons), and the latter opposite Suhair El-Babli in Ahmed El-Nahhas's Al-Qalb wi ma Yi'ashaq (Whoever the Heart Loves). Both release dates were delayed -- and the films were commercial flops. In the early 1990s filmmaker Khairi Bishara, on the strength of the late Ahmed Zaki's Kaboria (1990) made Ice-Cream fi Glim (Ice-Cream in Glim, 1992) and Amrika Shika Bika (America, Abracadabra, 1993) with Diab and Fouad, respectively. Scripted by Medhat El-Adl, both were commercial triumphs and received critical acclaim. Along with Hassan El-Seifi's Loulaki (1993), starring Libyan singer Ali Hemeida, whose hit Loulaki had become ubiquitous, however, other films starring Diab and Fouad didn't do so well: Tareq El-Telmissani's Dihk wi Li'b wi Gadd wi Hobb (Laughter, Play, Seriousness and Love, 1993), Mohamed Khan's Yom Har Gidan (A Very Hot Day, 1995) and Khairi Bishara's Isharit Murour (Traffic Lights, 1996). By that stage a new wave of young comedians were fast rising. Mohamed Heneidi and Alaa Walieddin appeared as a duo in Sherif Arafa's early 1990s films, in Khairi Bishara's Qishr Al-Bunduq (Hazel Nut Shells, 1996), Mohamed Abdel-Aziz's Halaq Housh (1997) and Sherif Shaaban's Samaka wa Arbaa Qurush (A Fish and Four Sharks, 1997), a scene-by-scene remake of Charles Crishton's A Fish Called Wanda (1988). Both -- later to be joined by others like Mohamed Saad -- progressed onto secondary, then lead roles; and it was on their strength that the star-centred vehicle took over the commercial screen. A decade or so later, the list of singers- turned-actors includes Hakim, Hamada Hilal, Mustafa Kamel, Medhat Saleh, Khaled Selim, Fares, Edward, Tamer Hosni, Sherine and Rubi, as well as relatively old-timers Mohamed Fouad and Mustafa Qamar. And they vie with as many comedians: Karim Abdel-Aziz, Ahmed Helmi, Hani Ramzi, Maged El-Kedwani, Ahmed Eid, Ahmed Rizq, as well as relative old-timers Ahmed Adam and Ashraf Abdel-Baqi and superstars Mohamed Heneidi and Mohamed Saad. Add to these the women stars, still cast mostly in secondary roles -- Abla Kamel, Mona Zaki, Hanan Turk, Menna Shalabi, Yassmin Abdel-Aziz and Ghada Adel -- and you end up with an incredibly busy screen, one filled, indeed, to overflowing. Yet far from vitality or creativity, what this amounts to is a handful of producers monopolising the market -- and consuming talent at an alarming rate. In the span of two years in the early 1990s, the number of films produced annually had dropped from 90 to six. Not a glimmer of hope appeared on the horizon until the aforementioned Fouad decided to star in a semi- autobiographical film: his collaboration with screenwriter Ahmed El-Beih, director Karim Diaaeddin and Heneidi resulted in Ismailia Rayeh Gayy (Ismailia, Two Way Ticket, 1997) -- Kamananah, a song it featured, topped the pop charts in 1997. And with the success of the film came Heneidi's Sa'idi Fil Gamaa Al-Amrikiya (An Upper Egyptian at the American University, 1998), director Said Hamed's clichéd take on the character of the Sa'idi, a staple of Egyptian comedy since Ismail Yassin and through Mohamed Awad, Adel Imam, Said Saleh and Younis Shalabi. It made LE27 million -- an all-time record to be followed by Hammam fi Amsterdam (Hammam in Amsterdam, 1999 -- LE23 million) and the rise of the late Alaa Walieddin in Abboud ala Al-Hudoud (Aboud on the Borders, 1999) and Al-Nazer (The Headmaster, 2000), which beat Heneidi's Belia Wi Dimaghu Al-Alia (Belia, and his High, 2000) at the box office. Mohamed Saad, who first appeared in a small part alongside Walieddin in Al-Nazer, went on to make Al-Limbi (2002) -- a landmark, the second instalment of which, Eli Bali Balak (2003) was followed by Okal (2004); they grossed some LE20 million each. After Wallieddin's death in 2002, together with Saad, veteran comedian Adel Imam -- Heneidi and Walieddin had both featured as minor characters in his films -- has constituted the principal threat to Heneidi: Al-Tagruba Al-Danimarkiya (The Danish Experiment, 2003) and Aris min Giha Amniya (A Groom from the Security Apparatus, 2004), both written by Youssef Maati and directed by Ali Idriss, averaged LE15 million. The summer season will therefore give way to fierce competition among the comedians: in Yana ya Khalti (Either I or my Aunt), scripted by Ahmed Abdallah and directed by Said Hamed, Heneidi plays both the protagonist and his aunt; in Buha, directed by Adel's son Rami Imam, Saad plays a funny butcher; while the veteran himself offers Al-Sifara fil Imara (The Embassy in the Apartment Building), a Youssef Maati screenplay directed by Amr Arafa and scheduled, unlike the aforementioned two, for late July. In it Imam plays an expatriate who returns from the Persian Gulf country in which he has lived and worked for many years to find the Israeli Embassy headquarters in his apartment building, with Lutfi Labib playing the Israeli ambassador. As much as anything, Imam questions the Egyptians' Israel-o-phobia, a condition that persists despite 30 years of peace. With 107 films to his name, and about 35 years of being the top grossing star, Imam occasionally throws a political statement into his films, appealing for the identification of either the poor or the average middle-class citizen in their victimisation by corrupt businessmen and officials, which is something that ironically always helps the superstar to consolidate his connections with businessmen and politicians. His title as UN goodwill ambassador, notwithstanding, Imam's films have always managed to preserve the dubious status of exploiting and encouraging misogynist and even racist attitudes while pretending to contain a socialist agenda. However, except for comedian Hani Ramzi, who seems to entertain the same politically "correct" pretences, Imam is unique among contemporary comedians in trying to have both in his films and as a public figure some kind of "political" agenda. It is unlikely that any of the minor comedians -- Ahmed Rizq in Hamada Yilaab (Hamada Plays), written by Magdi El-Kudsh and directed by Said Hamed; Ahmed Eid in Laylat Suqut Baghdad (The Night Baghdad Fell), written and directed by Mohamed Amin; and Ahmed Adam in El-Qarmouti, respectively -- will cause a change in the market hierarchy. With singers like Hamada Hilal and Hakim making their debuts in Eial Habiba and Ali Spicy, respectively, on the other hand, the picture alters significantly. The latter film, directed by Mohamed El-Naggar and co-starring Sumaiya El-Khashab, promises to be a major hit. But given the box office drawing potential of their stars, singer Tamer Hosni's second film, Sayed El-Atifi (Sayed the Sentimental) or Fouad's return in Ghawi Hobb (Addicted to Love), costarring Hala Shiha, Ramz Galal and Khaled El-Sawi are unlikely to break any records. It is ironic that Fouad, whose duet with Heneidi in 1997 launched the latter's superstar status, should be the one whose release date is postponed to the tail of the summer season's list, in September. Comedy takes all still, apparently. The season opened on 7 June with Sandra Nashaat's Malaki Iskendria (Alexandria Private), however, starring Ahmed Ezz and Nour, and written by Wael Abdallah and Mohamed Hifsi. Other non-comedy flicks include Osman Abu-Laban's Ahlam Omrina (Dreams of Our Life), starring Mustafa Shaaban and Mona Zaki, and Ahmed Saleh's Harb Italia (Italy's War), starring Ahmed El-Saqa and Nelly Karim -- both action-packed thrillers, with LE7 and LE12 million budgets, respectively. El-Saqa's film needs to gross more than his previous two action flicks, neither of which brought in as much as the budget of this summer's film. Nor should much hope hang on the two remaining non-comedy flicks awaiting release: Osman Abu-Laban's Kawalis (Behind the Scenes), starring Mustafa Shaaban, and Ahmed Mekki's Al-Hassa Al-Sabaa (The Seventh Sense), starring Ahmed El-Fishawi and written by Mohamed Gomaa.
