Syrian actor Jamal Suleiman to star in two Ramadan series

By Nohad Topalian in Beirut
For Al-Shorfa.com
2010-07-29

[File] Suleiman says his role in the new Memories in the Flesh adaption is different from other roles he played in the past.

During the month of Ramadan, viewers across the Arab world will see Syrian actor Jamal Suleiman in the complex character of Khalid in a series based on the novel "Memories in the Flesh" by Algerian novelist Ahlam Mosteghanemi. The acclaimed novel has won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature, and its fans will have high expectations.

Between filming two scenes in a house in Gemmayzeh, one of Beirut's oldest neighborhoods, Suleiman met with Al-Shorfa for an interview.

Al-Shorfa: Can you tell us more about the character Khalid that you are playing in "Memories in the Flesh"?

Jamal Suleiman: There is a very deep human dimension to Khalid’s character, which the writer Ahlam Mosteghanemi carefully painted, especially as it relates to his social and political status.

Given that, every actor will have a different interpretation of Khalid's personality, particularly regarding the details of his reactions to the circumstances surrounding him, especially the details of his relationship with Hayat and Ziad, as well as interpreting how he views the relationship between Hayat and Ziad.

Al-Shorfa: What have you come up with while portraying this character?

Suleiman: Together with director Najdat Anzour, I have portrayed a particular moment in time that this man experienced, the moment that makes him enter into some imaginary state, and creates a very difficult state of mind, where many events of his life seem to be taking place at the same time, some which having to do with the death of Ziyad, and others with the changes taking place in Algeria and the Arab world as a whole, and the fading away of the dream of a national and pan-Arab renaissance.

Al-Shorfa: Is there some kind of novelty in the roles that you play today?

Suleiman: An actor is always searching for new appearances, and the role of Jamal Suleiman in "Memories in the Flesh" is different for instance from that in "Salah Al-Deen", "Saqr Quraish" or even "Hadaaiq Al-Shaytan". I appear with a new face in ‘"Memories in the Flesh", because it is based on a very intense novel, a contemporary novel that has been turned into a TV series which has been done in the presence of the writer, and this is what’s new.

Al-Shorfa: "Memories in the Flesh" has stirred many comments and reactions. It seems you are taking on quite a challenge.

Suleiman: It is true the novel caused a lot of reactions among readers and the critics interpreted it differently. Therefore, the challenge for me as an actor is to portray this character in all its details, rather than the tiring emotional details.

Al-Shorfa: Like what?

Suleiman: Like these little details of Khalid sitting for a prolonged period of time holding the bag that Ziyad left. It is true that Ziyad passes away in the middle of the story, but his bag remains a main character in the events that take place, and specifically in the life of Khalid. The interpretation of these details is central, in addition to paying attention to the language. It is true that I started with historical works that required the use of standard Arabic language. However, in this series, I attempt to remove the language issue, and I hope to succeed in doing so, because I fear that the language might put the viewers to be in a certain state of mind.

Al-Shorfa: How could this be?

Suleiman: When the viewers watch a TV series that is in the standard Arabic language, it acts as a barrier between the viewer and the characters, and this is why I attempt to overcome this.

Al-Shorfa: Amal Boushousha is starring opposite you in her first acting role. Does this affect you in any way?

Suleiman: I have worked with many actors, actresses and young directors working on their first films. Currently, I am working in Egypt on a huge series with a female director who is working on her first film. In my beginnings, I stood side by side with actors who had a long history and were experienced actors. Some were nice to me, took me by the hands and showed me the way, while others did not bother to do so, and there were others who did not care at all about my presence. Personally, I like to imitate the first type, that is those who were nice to me, so that my colleagues will have a good impression about me. We must be positive in our relationship with our colleagues, because this is a type of intelligent behavior in this profession, as it is not in my advantage to work with a poorly performing actress who plays the role of a complex female character, which is the character of Hayat. Similarly, it is not in the interest of Amal to work with a poorly performing actor.

Al-Shorfa: How would you assess your work with her?

Suleiman: Professionally, we complement each other and we are successful in what we present. "Memories in the Flesh" is a collective artistic work, and there is no big or small actor in it. The question is that of interpretations, events, and the many different options that are eventually put together so that all of this can appeal to the viewers.

Al-Shorfa: You will act in another series for the month of Ramadan.

Suleiman: Yes. It is a different story that falls under the Egyptian social drama genre. The title of the series is "Qissat Hob", and the role I play is an Arabic language teacher and a school principal.

Al-Shorfa: How would you compare the two series?

Suleiman: These two series are different from each other, so they will have different audiences. However, both of them are important to me, and I work on both of them with the same level of sincerity. I do not know which of the two will make me loved or hated by the audience, but what is certain is that each of them has a different audience.

Al-Shorfa: Do you fear the viewers' reaction?

Suleiman: I respect it. For instance, when I used to work on historical series, some of the viewers that I met in the streets were asking me to stop performing these roles that they found boring, while others expressed their satisfaction for these types of works which made them go back to the references and look up the facts in books in order to compare them, and they were displeased by the fact that I have stopped working on historical films. This means that the viewers are varied.

Al-Shorfa: Will you take a break after these two series?

Suleiman: I will take a break, after which I will come back next winter to shoot a film based on a novel by the great writer Yusuf Al-Aqeed called "The Train of Sa’id". The filming location will be in southern Egypt, specifically in Aswan near Lake Nasser. This means that I will return to Upper-Egyptian dialect dramas.

But this time it will be based on a novel, meaning that I will have two different experiences with novels: one with Ahlam Mosteghanemi and a second with Yusuf Al-Aqeed. And then in 2012, if I am still alive by then, I will work on the novel "The Earth".

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