Hend Sabry
A Life More Ordinary


By Dagher EL Saky
Art Directed and Styled by Maissa Azab
Photographed by Hussein Shaaban

December 2008

Hend Sabry the film star has graced the pages at eniGma on several previous occasions. Today however we are trying to have an audience with Hend Sabry the woman, the wife, the person. This may prove tricky as it would require her to step out of the lime light, leave minders behind, and shed layers of makeup; both physical and otherwise. A task most Egyptian stars would have difficulty accepting, let alone manage without considerable headache (mostly to us). But our start is promising as Hend suggests a public place by the Nile in Zamalek for a late lunch meeting.

Hend’s beginning has been charted before, but I am keen to find out if she’s ever had a ‘regular’ job. The answer is a resounding no. “I studied law. I have a Master’s degree in law but I never practiced it.” When asked if she was ever tempted into trying it out, Hend answers by steering the direction towards her current vocation. As she explains “I have a beautiful job but it is a bumpy job. It is not safe and there is nothing in it I can take for granted; so it’s good  to know I have an alternative.” Having said that she confirms what we already know.

When asked if she missed out on normal teenage years because of her early success Hend tells m becoming a child star at  age14, while still at school, led to some unexpected problems. Instead of becoming the popular girl in her class, she was ostracized and made fun of. “The school mascot!” is what Hend says she was turned into. “…and in the most cruel way possible”.  “Also having missed a lot of school because of acting, I soon became an outsider. That along with the actual acting job turned me into an adult while still a young teenager. I had no choice but to mature quickly”.

And now, less than a decade since she was last a teenager, does she have any regrets? Hend gives me a long pensive pause and finally says: “No… I would have been happy not acting, say being a lawyer…. but I can’t tell you for sure because this life is all I have ever known. I have nothing to compare it to, nor an alternative from my past to contemplate. There are times when I am tempted to try an alternative, but I am scared to take those steps”.  Hend continues with a revelation that is shocking not in its content but its honesty. “Sometimes I want to try (the alternative) but I’m scared. At 23 or 24 I could have changed my career, but now at 29 I don’t know if I can. There is a certain comfort to this life style; certain privileges, not least of which is the glamour that comes with it. I am not sure if I can give that up”. Yet Hend quickly adds “although I would like to believe that I can”.

So is she is scared to not be taken seriously in another ‘job’ and can live without the fame? She replies: “If I tried to practice law I probably would not be taken too seriously at first, but I would persist until I proved myself. I am very good at it. I was always top of my class. I love the idea of order and the logic behind law. Any law, be it laws of marriage, wine or any other type”.

And on the subject of fame, she adds “Fame is addictive, and not always in a good way. Of course it is gratifying being smiled at by total strangers in the street, especially in Egypt, where people are genuinely kind and happy to tell you they like your work. but fame also has many pitfalls, like a complete lack of privacy and constant rumors that surround you and dictate your every action. Still at the same time it is intoxicating and highly addictive.”

“Still”, the revelations continue, “Now I want to open up to other alternatives that would not necessarily take me away from the life I know. And I am trying but it needs a lot of guts.” Quizzed for examples, Hend tells me about a documentary film project she has been writing for the last year. A year, which apparently is only the beginning of what she considers an important and long learning process. And when asked why spend years learning about the art of documentary when motion pictures are now second (or indeed first) nature to her, she quips “The Arab world needs more reality and truth than it does fiction. My opus finale, or my dream in layman’s terms (that would be me then) is to try to define the Arab Identity”. When asked if such a thing as common Arab Identity really exists, she lets loose a telling mischievous smile and says “Yeah… maybe that’s it… and perhaps not."

I suggest a break from the formal questions, only because it is hard to type and eat at same time, and so I casually ask her why she came to Egypt in the first place when at the time (about ten years ago) Egyptian cinema was suffering from a distinct lack in quality. That time was the Henedi heyday after all. The truthfulness of her answer inconveniently sends me back to the laptop. She says, “First don’t forget it was a coincidence. A director whom I had not heard of, offered me a role in Egypt. It was summer and I had nothing to do, so I thought why not? It could be fun for a few weeks. But after finishing the film I had to make a choice; either go back to Tunisia, become a lawyer and perhaps make a film every 3 or 4 years or stay here in Cairo and become a full fledged actress. At age 20 I thought being a lawyer can wait a few years and so I should not waste this opportunity. My age afforded me to give it a shot, but I never imagined, let alone planned, I would live in Egypt for the past ten years, and indeed get married and start a family here”. Her answer leaves me unsatisfied so I stress the point further about Egyptian cinema at the time being devoid of any artistic quality, so how could she consider herself an artist here, when back home in Tunisia, their films, as few and far apart as they may be, are considered among the most critically acclaimed films in the region?  Finally she admits: “I wanted a larger base”. “I wanted more people to see my films”. Then she adds a redeeming twist, “Egypt is the leader in Arabic media and to come here and try to make little changes allows me to have far more reaching effects than I would have done in Tunisia.” So she wants to bring down the system from within, or at least change it considerably. A sentiment I’m not unfamiliar with, having written on and off for eniGma for the past ten years myself.

And having gained local success and acceptance among her Egyptian colleagues, does she have any favourites? Hend quickly slips into the film star mode and says, “they have all been wonderful colleagues and co-stars”. She does however prefer to work with the older generation. “Most of them did not become famous overnight and therefore do not have large egos. Adel Imam for instance is one of the best listeners I have worked with”.

And speaking of egos, I ask Hend about her most underrated quality. She says “A lot of qualities; mostly my very big ego. I believe in myself. But I do not really belong in this industry. So I believe in my qualities outside of this profession. I am very kind for example but I cannot afford too much kindness in my line of work, so I must separate the two. I will not show the real me unless and until I am 100% safe and comfortable with someone. And in this profession that rarely happens.”

And so does she advise caution to any budding Hend Sabry’s out there trying to break into the industry? “My advice is that you will only succeed if your mind is framed in the right manner. You must read a lot, travel a lot, talk a lot and learn to see the world through many different eyes. You must become a sponge. Otherwise you will not be true to your art”, she explains.

Hend’s advice is projected in the roles she plays on the silver screen; those of tough, independent minded young women. She explains the attraction; “these are women that attract me on a personal level. Now that I am lucky enough to choose the roles I play, I want to dedicate my energy towards promoting the Arab woman the way I wish to see her. I want to promote the Arab woman who is liberal, but not in a typical Egyptian-movie way, where she has to drink, dance and sleep around. I want to promote the woman free to make up her own mind and make intelligent and educated decisions for herself, not just follow the paths chosen by her father/brother/husband. A woman like my mother. In traditional cinema the role of  women is either black or white. You are either conservative, passive and oh so-very-adorable, or independent, tough and cruel (with a hint of prostitution thrown in to confirm the stereo type). Most Arab women I know are neither type. I want to put flesh on that role.” 

I next remind Hend of something she said on these pages two years ago. She spoke at the time of reinventing herself. Not with a new look, but a new direction in life. Recycling is what she called it. Has the time come for recycling? She smiles and says, “the career of a young actress is like that of a footballer, quite short; unless you become an icon like Yousra, which is extremely difficult and therefore quite admirable. But I cannot count on turning into an icon. So I want to go out on my own terms, when I’m still on top and while the audience still has a craving for me”. So in other words, does she want to go out in a blaze of glory? Apparently not. She says, “I would like to retire gracefully and slowly from film making, but it’s not very easy to do”. “Recycling”, she says, is about using my name and fame to give back to the community”.  “In the West an actress like myself has a team: a PR manager, an agent, etc, who can help plan for a period of semi and gradual retirement where an active community role can be put into action; be it charity work, or helping up and coming film makers etc. But here you are on your own, so you must do it alone and it could take years to plot that new path. It is just too vague and hard to figure out.”

Could recycling then simply be a move to France where surely a career in quality French cinema is not far fetched? Hend is still in a candid mood and says “I do have that choice but I would have to start from zero, and I am not sure if I want to give up the life a film star in order to audition for smaller roles of the predefined and stereotypical ‘Arab girl in Paris’.” The addiction of being a star? Yes, but there is more to it than that apparently. She says “they have a lot of people like me in Paris. But here I am needed. People like myself,  Amr Waked,  Mohamed Hefzy, and Marwan Hamed, young educated people with a vision are needed. Here we can make a difference and provide an alternative, albeit slight, to the norm. We try to make ‘artistic films’, along with those big productions. I would like to follow Johnny Depp’s pattern of ‘one for the big studios and one for me’. Last year I made ‘El Gezirah’, one of the biggest Egyptian productions so far, and at the same time I acted in ‘Genenit El Asmak’, one of the smallest”. What Hend forgets to add, perhaps in modesty, is that unlike Pirates of the Caribbean 3, her ‘blockbuster’ was critically acclaimed. So that’s one up on Mr. Depp then.

So what then is she doing with herself when not shooting? Hend describe her current daily routine as the Suburban (not the Desperate she emphasizes) Housewife phase. She is teaching herself Yoga, and spending afternoons lunching with girlfriends and watching movies at night with her husband Mohamed, at their home off the Cairo-Alex desert road.

A life too idyllic perhaps? Hend describes her life today as perfect. She is at peace, more than any other point in her life. “It is the fruit of three years of working on myself in a lot of ways, and now that I’m getting there it is really delicious.”

Judging by how she looks today, I find that quite easy to believe. Also apparent is the fact that Hend is far more a person than she is a star.