أحمد بدير فى حوار الذكريات: زعلت من أحمد زكى علشان حرمنى من دور الغفير.. حوار

Dialogue with the great artist Ahmed Badir is a joy beyond pleasure, as he creates joy everywhere he is, and in his office in his home on the 6th of October, I sat with him among his books, pictures, and awards, so that we can recall together his childhood and youth, the beginning of his passion for art, his most important artistic milestones, and his memories with many stars who loved him. And others fought him. This dialogue is a “dialogue of memories,” in which the artist Ahmed Badir spoke with love and opened his heart and mind to us. The dialogue is not devoid of “funnyness” and “jokes,” and humor is present with him in life in general, away from acting in the theater or in front of the cameras. As if his mission in life was to make people happy all the time.

• Did the neighborhood in which you grew up have a humanitarian and artistic influence on you?

I was born on May 1, 1947, and I grew up in an ancient neighborhood in northern Cairo, which is the “Hadayek al-Qubba” neighborhood. I was very influenced by all the components of this neighborhood and this diverse and disparate population structure, and I benefited from it humanly and artistically, and I gained a lot of experience in knowing people and dealing with them. And each according to its culture, the Hadayek Al-Qubba neighborhood, specifically Misr and Sudan Street, had a great influence on me in my upbringing and childhood, as this street reaches the Qobba Palace, and in the days when the state used to open this street to the public on special occasions, and when I was young, I would enter the Qobba Palace, play inside it, and enjoy its beautiful gardens with my friends. In this neighborhood where I grew up, there is cohesion, closeness, and sympathy between people. I lived in a popular neighborhood with houses next to each other. We share it and exchange visits, and we all know each other. Therefore, this neighborhood had a great impact on my humanitarian side, and my contact with people made me gain a lot from them. Later, I present characters from the reality of what I saw.

• When did your passion for art begin? Did you study it in a specialized institute?

I did not study art in any of the specialized institutes, but I studied philosophy in the College of Arts, and I was satisfied with this study. I did not join any institute or college of art, but I loved art from an early age, and I was passionate about artists since I was 7 years old in the neighborhood in which I grew up. All my friends were playing ball and playing children’s games, but I would leave them and go up to the roof of my house and bring pictures of the artists, bring dough and a box, and move the pictures through the box to make stories from it as if they were a movie tape. I also participated in primary school in artistic activities and embodied the character of Abu Al-Qasim Al-Shabbi’s father. In middle school, my passion was more for watching cinema. I used to watch three films a day in three theaters, and I used to specifically enter the “Al-Faluga” Cinema in Manshiyet Al-Bakry, Suhair Cinema, Misr Cinema, and Carmen Cinema in the Abbasiya area, and I remember a funny situation, which was I had gone to the Al-Faluga cinema, and it was showing three films and then repeating again. The cinema was a “deck” and had no chairs. On one occasion, or many times, I would sleep on this “deck” after watching two or three films, and my father would come to me. He carried me while I was sleeping, and brought me home because he knew that I was in the cinema. My father was reconciled with me regarding my love for art, acting, and cinema, and he did not object at all. By the way, he was an officer in the Egyptian army, and my older brother, “Radwan,” was also an officer, but unlike my father, he hated it. Acting and he always said to my father: “This boy is wasteful and useless,” and I was afraid of him, but my father and mother encouraged me.

• Did your passion for art continue in high school as well?

In high school, my passion changed. My passion was not acting, but I loved directing and writing. I used to write plays and direct them in the youth centers on Badran Island and Helmeet El-Zeitoun. I also directed for companies and factories, and directed at the Teachers College in Roxy, and I remained in this stage for a long time, which is the hobby stage. Until the opportunity came to move to a new stage, which is professionalism, when a friend of mine and my neighbor also works as an assistant director with the director Majida Negm, and his name is “Ferjani”, and he said to me: There is a competition on the radio, “Go and apply for it.” I told him: There are thousands of people applying for it, so he said. Lee: Just apply, and God willing, they will accept you. I actually applied for radio and succeeded, and radio became art for me. I used to spend all my time there “sleeping in it,” performing roles and characters, and the first award I got was on radio through the series “Never Had It,” starring Farouk Al-Fishawy and Nabila Obaid, and I won the Best Actor Award at the Radio and Television Festival while I was still a student, and here I said to myself: “This is good acting, and I am still getting an award.” My salary on the radio was (2 pounds) for an hour’s script, then it increased to 4 pounds. Later when she acted on television.

• How did you move from acting on radio to television? How much was your wage?

There was a “knock” on the second floor of the “Maspero” building, and it contained directors’ offices. I used to go in front of the office and walk, or in my country like this, “talk to you” until someone saw me and caught his eye. One time, he caught the eye of an assistant director working with director Hamada Abdel Wahab, and he asked me. : You act, so I said to him: Oh, of course, I pay 4 pounds per script per hour, and this means that I am not an extra, but an actor who has a salary. So he said to me: Okay, let Uday Ali stay, and he registered my name in his notebook, and he actually introduced me to the director Hamada Abdel Wahab, but I accepted it. I had met the writer Muhammad Jalal Abdel-Qawi, who by the way is from Kafr El-Sheikh, so I considered him my mother’s municipality. He told me: I am writing a series directed by Hamada Abdel-Wahab, so I said to him: Oh, this director’s assistant wrote my name, but Abdel-Qawi spoke to Hamada Abdel-Wahab himself. So I went and met him, and the series was called “Al-Gharba.” The heroes in the beginning were: Ahmed Zaki, Firdous Abdel Hamid, and they called me for a table rehearsal, and I was very happy that I would sit with all these stars, and the director at that time initially nominated me for a large role with the artist Hassan Abdeen. He does the opposite of what is told to him, so he says to him, for example, “Sit down, and Al-Ghafir says to him: He did not crouch, (but he sits) and Hassan Abdeen says to him: “Stand,” and Al-Ghafir says to him, “I do not crouch,” but he stands. I was very happy with this role because I found in it a sweet space for comedy. , and “He Will Know with the People,” and I did many rehearsals for this role, but during the rehearsal, and in the presence of the late artist Ahmed Zaki and director Hamada Abdel Wahab, Ahmed Zaki said: Ahmed Badir is playing the role of “Qenawi,” and here I became very upset with Ahmed Zaki because I… I had loved the comedic role of Al-Ghafir, which had a beautiful setting, so I said to him and the director: What are you watching, Professor? I took the other role and found him saying two sentences throughout the events of the series.

• How did you create space and influence for yourself in the role of “Qenawi” and, in one sentence, “Haras Jay”?

I thought a lot about creating details for the role, and I searched for a lot of vocabulary from the character itself, including the phrase: “Haras Jay.. Haras Jay.” On the first day of filming, I asked the makeup artist for a “big chin,” and he told me: “Where will we get you?” But he acted and collected the rest of the hair for me. One of the people who used to shave and he made a beard out of it for me. While I was “walking” in the plateau, I found an “old wooden rifle” so I took it, and I found a plant branch, so I put it in the “butt” of the rifle, so I made details for the character, because the character is a man who has great loyalty to Haras, and this is the role that was He will be presented by the artist Ahmed Zaki, but he apologized and Saeed Abdel Ghani took his place. At that time, I experimented with the pronunciation of the dialogue, especially the phrase “Haras Jay,” and with the details of the hazelnut, the tree branch, and the clothes, I created a “caricature” for Qenawi’s character.

• What is the reason for the fans’ attachment to the character “Qenawi” to the point that they called the series “Harass Jay” instead of “Al-Gharba”?

I do not know the reason, but after the series was shown, the audience began not to say the name of the series, but rather to say the series “Haras Jay”, and with this role I achieved great public success. By the way, the actors in this series were not satisfied with it, and they expected it to fail and wished it would not be shown, but of course I am. Unlike them, I was hoping for it to be shown, and I prayed to God that it would be shown quickly, and during its showing it achieved great success. The audience in Upper Egypt, in the countryside, and in all governorates was waiting for this series in cafes and in homes, and it used cartoonists and “joke” makers, with a sentence: “Haras Jay.” “This was a big boost for me, and people would meet me in the street and say to me: Haras jay aho, and this is what gave me the confidence to continue acting and leave the subject of directing and writing in companies and youth centers.

• How were you nominated for the series “Ali Bab Zuweila” with the late Nour El Demerdash?

I met him by chance, and he was assigned the role of “Majzoub” in the series “Ali Bab Zuwaila”, and his salary was raised from 4 pounds to 12 pounds, and I said to myself at the time: “No… this is how I reached glory.” I then participated with director Alawya Zaki in “Nahr Al-Salt”, and she began a good stage in television, and she presented comedies with director Ibrahim Al-Shakanqiri such as: We Go to the Department, Two Two, and other works.

• How did you enter Youssef Chahine’s cinema? Who nominated you to work with him?

During my service in the army, assistant director Hossam Ali was with me in the same place of service, and he also worked as a production manager with the great director Youssef Shaheen. By the way, during this period in the Egyptian army, I had with me: Mahmoud Al-Jundi, Mohsen Zayed, and Alaa Al-Ghitani, “production manager,” and we all participated in the war. October, and I remember at that time that I said to Hossam Ali: I want to work in cinema with your professor Youssef Shaheen, and he said to me: God willing, and in the month of Ramadan I found him calling me after breakfast on the grocery phone, and he said to me: Get dressed and come to the Misr Studio immediately and bring with you a tall one like you. I will do a scene with you in the movie “The Bird” by Youssef Chahine. “Ferjani,” my friend who worked as an assistant director on the radio, lived next to me. I begged him to come with me and act, even though he had nothing to do with acting and he rejected the idea, but I pressured him and made him feel the importance of this opportunity and that he was my friend. He must stand next to me, so he reluctantly agreed and came with me, and I said to him: “Watch me and act as I act.” We were going to play the role of two prisoners, and along the way I would advise him and beg him not to waste this opportunity from me because it was with Youssef Shaheen, and Ferjani’s role was one sentence. So I said to myself: Thank God it is a sentence, and the scene began and the artist Salah Qabil was with us, and Youssef Shaheen came and said: Oh God, we will film. The scene began and the artist Salah Qabil said his sentence, and I said my sentence and then Ferjani said his sentence, and I am afraid that Ferjani will get angry with him and Youssef Shaheen will expel us. Me and Ferjani, but filming started and I said my sentence, then Ferjani said his sentence without acting, then Youssef Shaheen came and said again, and we repeated the scene again, and here Youssef Shaheen came and sat on his knees in front of me and Ferjani, and I said: But he will insult us and expel us, and the reason is Ferjani, and I said in secret. “May God destroy your house, Ferjani,” but Youssef Shaheen approached me and said to me: “Brother, stay normal like your friend Ferjani.”

In the second part of the Memories Dialogue, there are other stories and anecdotes with which we will continue the career of the artist Ahmed Badir in cinema and in theatre. We will know the behind the scenes of his joining the play “Raya and Sakina” and the crises caused to him by the plays “Constitution, O Our Lord” and “The Sa’idah Have Arrived.” He will also talk about Naguib Al-Rihani. And Mahmoud Al-Meligy and the extent to which he was influenced by them in his artistic career.