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The recent period witnessed young actors topping the most watched works in Egyptian television drama and cinema, as the young actor Taha Desouky was able to achieve remarkable success through the series “A Special Case,” which achieved high views, amid praise on social media platforms for his talent.
Also at the level of television drama, Hatem Salah appeared in the series “Ali Bab al-Amara” and Issam Omar in “Balto”.
Cinematically, youth works such as “Foy, Foy, Foy” and “Wash Fi Wash” were successful, while the movie “Al-Harifa” topped the revenues of the current season, grossing more than 13 million pounds. It also stars a group of young people, led by Nour Khaled Al-Nabawi.
This success of young talents raises a question about the change that the artistic market is witnessing in Egypt. Have the new generations succeeded in pulling the rug from under the feet of the old stars?
new ideas
Art critic Ihab Al Turki describes the rise of young talents as a “late step,” as he told Al Jazeera Net that “drama in the world always depends on new faces, and since the beginning of the millennium we have only seen one generation for more than 25 years.”
Al-Turki considered the generation of Issam Omar, Hatem Salah, and Taha Desouky “the son of the present,” because he had the ability to present ideas and comedies that fit the current times. “Most of the older generation did not develop and stopped at efats and styles since the beginning of the millennium.”
Art critic Umniah Adel agreed with Al-Turki, and in turn considered that the ideas presented in artistic works are among the most important factors that contributed to the success of the current generation. She cited the movie “Al-Harifa,” which achieved remarkable success, because it presented an idea that is popular with the public, which is football.
This is what was repeated in drama in serials: “In (A Special Case), the audience followed Taha Desouki despite Ghada Adel’s participation in the tournament, but Desouki caught the attention after his success in the series (A Family Topic), so the audience was following his line in the series.”
As for “Balto” by Issam Omar – who also continues to succeed in the series “Belly of the Whale” – “the heroism was represented in the story that does not depend on a single hero, but rather on different pillars and actors with overlapping dramatic lines. The story is the engine, as happened before in ( Illuminated by its people) when Mohamed Hatem succeeded in leading the tournament alongside the presence of Laila Alawi, Bassem Samra, and Ghada Adel.”
Omnia Adel added that what is happening is the influence of the platforms, “the audience wants to see new characters with new stories that resemble the current audience from the beginning of the teens until the age of 45 years.”
The Egyptian art critic considered that the second factor in the success of this generation is the production and propaganda combination, “which has come to play a major role in the success of current works and their prominence on the scene, with the use of new faces with enthusiastic and attractive stories, which makes these works succeed more than the works of a single star, such as (Abu “Nasab” currently shown, what Mohamed Adel Imam presents is similar to what we saw in his previous films, as well as the film (Al-Iskandarani). In addition to the presence of a fan base for the film’s hero, Ahmed Al-Awadi, the audience is waiting for director Khaled Youssef’s film.
Group tournaments
The success of young actors in drama and cinema prompted older generations to resort to group tournaments. Star Laila Elwi, for example, participated in the films “Maqsoum” and “Al Shanab,” while Yousra and Nelly Karim participated in the series “Rose and Laila.” She is also awaiting the screening of her film “Eid Night,” which also belongs to the group starring category.
Critic Omnia Adel considered the group championship the ideal solution, “The idea of having one star to whom the audience would go specifically has receded, as there is no longer a star who has great charisma, and the producer will not risk relying on one star. Even major stars like Yousra, for example, has the audience now wanted to watch He worked specifically for her? Therefore, the solution became to be present in group starring works and to watch them in a general context, within a work that carries more than one story.”
She added, “Years ago, the movie (A Men’s Pause) – starring Majed El-Kedwany, Sayed Ragab, and Bayoumi Fouad – achieved great success, and here collective heroism is the reason for success. If each hero presented a movie starring him, he would not achieve the same situation.”
Fundamental change
The critic described the current moment as “a moment of fundamental transformation in the Egyptian film industry at the level of heroes,” citing the suffering of the movie “Marai Al-Primo,” in which the artist Mohamed Henedy bet on a comeback, but on the other hand, Akram Hosni’s movie “Agent Zero” succeeded. The same thing was repeated successfully. “Al-Harifa” and “Wash Fi Wash”.
She concluded, “The audience has a desire to watch works that can be cut into comic scenes or comedy clips, which is important in the way of writing, advertising, and distributing the film.”
