Class act

“Welcome to Ahmad Fishawi’s phone service,” the message purrs. “For Arabic, press one. For English, press two. If you are a reporter, hang up now.” A blisteringly loud scream then ends the message. Trying to contact Egypt’s rising star means repeatedly confronting this message; he’s not being ignorant we later learn, it’s merely a natural reaction to the endless phonecalls and requests he harvests from an infinite parade of tabloid journalists, all of whom are looking for the latest news on his undeniably colourful private life. Us included.

Let’s be clear here, though. An illegitimate child, a paternity suit and a protracted court case would generate endless coverage on Entertainment Tonight were they part of the dirty laundry of a Hollywood star, so one can only imagine the deluge of interest from the scandal-spreading muckrakers of the Arab media. Ahmad Fishawi is, after all, the son of one the biggest stars in Egyptian drama. Impregnating a woman outside of wedlock is news.
“I am not a big fan of reporters,” he offers, when we have managed to penetrate the layers of call screening that has become an almost daily routine for the actor. “There are limits to the areas that I am willing to expose.
I am just trying to do my job; I am a professional actor and that’s what I do for a living, and I can’t understand how this job makes some people feel that they are entitled to become involved with my personal life.”

But there is, thankfully, much more to Ahmad than an unusually sensitive tabloid furore – or indeed his illustrious parentage; his father is cinema legend Farouq Fishawi and his mother the actress Sommaya Alfi. His portfolio of finely executed film and television drama roles prove that he is a multi-talented, multi-dimensional actor. And after running into him in one of the biggest Arab rap shows in the region held in Cairo a couple of months ago, we were surprised to learn that he is also a deadly serious and highly successful hip-hop producer. “I’m making rap songs, working on our group’s album,” he confirms now we’ve met again. “We are doing our best to create and expand the Arab hip-hop scene.”

After a couple of successful rap videos – in which he collaborated with Arabian Knightz and later with his own group Ghetto Pharoz – Ahmad is at pains to stress he is no new arrival to a music scene that has found a zealously committed new audience in the Middle East. “I started rapping when I was 14, and I do believe it suits the Arabic language well,” he says, before adding an argument that will leave a few Arab poets spinning in their graves. “You can argue that we Arabs invented rap during the days of pre-Islam Quraish, when poets entered into freestyle poetry battles. After all, rap is a form of poetry or ‘Zajal’.”

Ahmad is, at least, not one for the accoutrements of the profession. No rocking any bling-bling or riding in an Escalade with fitted Lamborghini doors for him; his dedication to the Arab rap movement is limited to completing the Pharoz’s debut albums with some of the most recognised names in the industry. It isn’t a lifestyle choice. “I don’t come from Brooklyn,” he shrugs.

Indeed, the day we spent with him could hardly be less flamboyant. Friday, we learn, is Fishawi family day, and instead of VIP backrooms of high-end clubs and blacked-out limos, we accompany him to a kid’s art centre. Ahmad squeezes us between drawing with his daughter and chatting to his father, the legendary Farouq, who showed up to share some quality time with his granddaughter.
It was actually the best way to avoid being mobbed by fans wherever he’d go, which is now at the level where he can’t really walk down a Cairo street without being assaulted. Even in the village of Saqqara, some 25 kilometres south of the Egyptian capital, the kids chase behind like a mini, palm-tree-backed replay of Beatlemania.

One look at his career confirms that he has been building his fame across a number of media, helping cultivate a following from Ramadan TV series such as Wajh al-Qamar, in which he starred with Faten Hamamameh, to bold cinema choices like 45 Days, Zai Annahar Dah and the upcoming One-Zero, all of which he considers an artistic step above the mainstream herd. He has even co-directed and starred in the light-hearted comedy Seventh Sense, underscoring his statement that he truly “loves everything about movies”. He even took a part in the offbeat Amr Waked vehicle The Aquarium that comprised a total of just six scenes because he liked the script and the character. “I see myself at the beginning,” he confessed. “Making movies may be about landing big roles, but I have not had that chance yet and I am satisfied with my body of work so far.”

Finding “quality” roles, let alone the artistic ones, in Egyptian drama is an uphill struggle for any actor, not just the accomplished son of Farouq Fishawi. When it comes to the Arab entertainment industry – films as well as music – the level is still relentlessly commercial and grimly disposable. A disappointed Ahmad offers his diagnosis of the crisis: “We are not ready to make an impact on the international stage yet. We have loads of problems, and we are still dealing with funding issues. Producers at the end of the day want to make money, and honestly even the films that could be considered good movies happen by coincidence or luck most of the time.”

Sadly, the recent mass walkout from 45 Days by a bemused audience shows why that might be. Such experiments with groundbreaking films by Ahmad and others have yet to elevate the still modest Egyptian cinema scene, and may not for a few years. However, the effects on the small screen may be more telling. Three seasons as the Arab world’s favourite comedy show during Ramadan, his Tamer and Shawqyyeh, based around two people from two different backgrounds falling in love, is credited for establishing the Arab sitcom genre. Ahmad wants people to look back a little further, though. “Tamer and Shawqyyeh certainly set the standard for Arabic sitcoms in the American mould,” he says, “but it is not the first such show. I was a part of a show called Shabab Online that debuted in 2002 which lasted for three season. I’d say that was perhaps the real groundbreaker.”

Ahmad has been around films and celebrities all his life, and he knows the power it possesses to change attitudes and promote causes. That for him is the real goal of fame. “I definitely want to try to tackle global issues that all human beings can relate to in my work. We have been trying to make this film about an albino girl for a few years now. It is a very well written film and it looks like it is finally going to happen. Unfortunately, we are very ‘racist’ when it comes to different people and we treat them as if they are weird, but they are not.”

Maybe his compassion with different people stems from the fact that he is not an ordinary person himself. Ahmad Fishawi has definitely proven he is different: Different in his approach, in his dealing with controversy, and of course different from his dad. “I always saw myself as independent. We are totally different.” But one thing that he may have in common with many people is that he carries himself as your average 30-year-old Arab who just happens to be paying his bills by standing in front of a camera.


Ahmad Fishawi file
Born: February, 1980
Father:
Farouq Fishawi (Actor)
Mother:
Sommaya Alfi (Actress)
TV
Wajh al-Qamar (2000)
Amma Noor (2003)
Afareet al-Sayyalah (2004)
Tamer and Shawqyyeh (2007-09)
Films
Seventh Sense (2005)
45 Days (2007)
Zai Annahar Dah (2008)
One-Zero (2009)

A full version of this article appears in NOX 35