Faten Hamama: I was pressured by intelligence and systematically distorted by newspapers

Gharib told BBC News Arabic: “Perhaps it is a strange coincidence that the year 1931 was the same year that saw the birth of Shadia, Magda and Hind Rostom, that generation that painted the cinema of the end. from the forties and beyond in a Color. “

The little girl, Faten Ahmed Hamama, slipped into the world of stardom through “Al-Ethman” magazine, published by Dar Al-Hilal, after her father presented his photos in a competition. by the magazine in 1936, which sparked the interest of the director, Mohamed Karim, to nominate her for a role in one of musician Mohamed Abdel Wahab’s films.

Despite some conflicting accounts, which the author obtained from the memoirs of Faten Hamama herself, from her father’s statements, and from the memoirs of director Muhammad Karim, these accounts agree on one thing, namely that the window from which Faten was watching in the movie world was a photo published by Al-Monday magazine.

Gharib said: “I confirm that Al-Monday magazine, which was published by the Dar Al-Hilal Foundation, had already announced in August 1936 a competition to choose the most beautiful face of a girl, and the photo of Faten first appeared in issue 118 of September 14, 1936, wearing the number 48 among the contestants.

The girl, Faten, was not the first among the contestants, but was placed sixth. But despite this, it was she who caught the attention of director Mohamed Karim, playing his first role in his film “Youm Happy”.

The story of the escape began when Faten Hamama was harassed during her displacement and trip abroad and back to Egypt, according to her memoir, parts of which were listed by Ashraf Gharib in her book .

The book attributed this restriction to the desire of the Egyptian Secret Service, led at the time by Salah Nasr, to recruit them to work for the agency, which was categorically rejected by Faten.

The book referred to part of Hamama’s memoir, which stated: “I have experienced a great injustice suffered by many around me, and I have been subject to restrictions in my movements and trips abroad and other things, until the brother of an artist who worked in the State Information Service contacted me (it seems to mean Morsi Saad El-Din, brother of musician Baligh Hamdi) . ) International Film Festival competition. In that call, the man requested an interview with an intelligence officer about an important matter, and I had no choice but to welcome his visit.

During the interview, the intelligence officer offered him to work with the agency and left him a few books on espionage after telling him a lot about “the security and the sacrifices of the country”, according to the memoir. of the Egyptian star.

Faten Hamama said in her memoir that she categorically rejected the offer after considering it and deprived it of sleep for a week, during which she spoke to close friends to advise them on the matter.

The author confirmed that the harassment suffered by Faten Hamama increased as a result of her refusal, prompting one of her friends to advise her to leave Egypt before she reduced it, suggesting that this advice came from journalist Ali Amin, one of the founders of Akhbar Al-Youm with his brother Mustafa Amin, whom Gharib said he worked hard with Zakaria Mohieldin, a prominent politician who had a family relationship with Faten Hamama, for the help escape from Egypt.

After her flight from Egypt and her escape from the clutches of Salah Nasr, then director of Egyptian general intelligence, Faten Hamama, along with her husband Omar Sharif, was the subject of a systematic smear campaign, during which a certain many Egyptian journalists have been implicated “whether on purpose or not”, according to Ashraf Gharib.

Gharib said: “This campaign was the reason for the dismissal of the editor-in-chief of Cairo-based magazine Al-Kawakeb from his post by journalist writer Ahmed Bahaa El-Din, chairman of the board of directors of Dar Al-Hilal Foundation. at the time. “

He added: “What happened was that critic Saad Al-Din Tawfiq, editor of Al-Kawakib magazine at the time, authorized in July 1965 to publish a group of cartoons of the cartoonist. Abdel Samie accusing Faten Hamama of panting after her husband Omar Sharif in the capitals of Europe to prevent him from falling into the arms of beauties or to imitate her access to world cinema.

The publication of this series of cartoons prompted Ahmed Bahaa El-Din, then president of the Dar Al-Hilal Foundation, to dismiss Tawfiq from his post, according to Gharib.

Just as there were heroes for a pigeon’s escape from Egypt, there were heroes to convince her to return to Egypt after the danger she feared from the brutality of intelligence disappeared after the changing political conditions in the country.

Gharib suggested in his book that Umm Kulthum, novelist Abdel Hamid Gouda Al-Sahar and writer Youssef Idris were among the most important figures who helped Hamama return to Egypt.

Umm Kulthum and al-Sahar sought reassurance messages from the Interior Ministry for Faten Hamama to return to her country, while Idris appealed to her via Egyptian radio to return. in Egypt.

Gharib suggested that Faten Hamama’s return to Egypt was not after the death of Abdel Nasser, as is common among those interested in the artistic community in Egypt, as he said in his book Qu ‘she returned to Egypt in February 1970, that is, several months before the death of former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in September 1970.