Longtime comedian Ahmed Eid had been on hiatus
for a while but has made what is arguably the biggest comeback this Ramadan. Venturing far out of
his comfort zone, Eid plays the part of Massoud in “Omla Nadra” (Rare Coin), pulling off a brilliant performance and skillfully mastering a mixture of contradictory feelings including hatred, malice, evilness, greed and regret. We talk to Eid about his comeback role, working with Nelly
Karim and Gamal Soliman, and his plans for the future.
1-How did you prepare yourself to play the complex part of Massoud? How did you evoke the evil side inside you to be able to portray it?
After I agreed to play this character, the first thing I did
was start to learn the Upper Egyptian (Sa’idi) dialect. It is
my first time, and as you know there are different types, with
each governorate in Upper Egypt having its own dialect. I
contacted linguistic expert Abdel Nabi Al-Hawari and he
helped me a lot to master the Sa’idi dialect. Frankly speaking Massoud made me feel depressed because his evil attitude, especially with Nadra (Nelly Karim), will stir the audience’s anger because he harms her on all levels and
from all sides therefore the audience will sympathize with her and hate me. But back to your question, every human being has a hidden side within his personality, in other words each one of us has good and evil sides. To portray a villain I try to increase its presence to help me to embody this character because the
evil side inside every villain is bigger than the good side.
2-What’s your reaction to the feedback of audience about
your comeback as Massoud?
I have a feeling that is a mix between happiness and fear,
because the positive interaction that I felt from the audience made me very happy, but at the same time I am afraid because this has added more responsibility on my shoulders when it comes to any roles I commit to in the future.
3-Weren’t you worried about leaving your comfort when
you agreed to take on the role?
Any actor shouldn’t limit himself to certain types of parts,he must present all kinds of roles and characters, and I hope Massoud’s character will open the door for me to present multiple characters, including a villain or a person suffering from psychological problems and so on.
4-Would you consider comedy roles in the upcoming
period or you prefer to concentrate on other roles for
now?
Definitely I will accept to perform a comedy role. Why
not? I do have one condition, though, that it be a different
one, a comedy role that I never presented before.
5-After participating in Saheb El Saada series you didn’t
take part in any other show until Omla Nadra. Why the
long hiatus?
The reason is that no suitable role came along. There was
nothing that satisfied my craving for acting. For me the suitable role doesn’t need to be a leading role, it could be a good supporting role.
6-What was it like working with Nelly Karim and Gamal
Soliman?
This is my first cooperation with Nelly Karim, whether on
the artistic or the personal level. She is very humble, simple, cooperative and kind person. Gamal Soliman is charismatic and intellectual, and I learned many things from him.
7-Based on the name of the series, what is the thing in your
life that you consider rare coin.
The rare thing is that I find a high-quality artistic work,
this work does not necessarily have philosophical dimen-
sions, but what matters to me is that the work has a really
good script which is like a rare coin now.
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