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As for Ghawar, he
continued to be an all-time favorite in all of Lahham's works, and
is considered today the most popular fictional character in the 20th
century throughout the Arab World. In the cinema, Lahham played
Ghawar in comedies like al-Muzayafun (The Imposters), Ghawar James
Bond, and Ghawar La'eb al-Kura (Ghawar the Football Player). In the
1960s, he played a more civil and modern Ghawar in classics with
prominent Egyptian actors like Maryam Fakhr al-Din in al-Sa'alik
(The Crooks), Najla' Fathi and Najwa Fou'ad in al-Sadikan (The
two Friends),
Kamal al-Shinnawi in al-Rajul al-Munasib (The Appropriate Man),
Nelli in al-Luss al-Zarif (The Nice Thief), Shadia in Khayyat lil
Sayyidat (Seamstress for Women), and Nabila Obeid in Misk wa Anbar (Misk
& Anbar) and al-Nassaben al-Thalatha (The Three Crooks), where they
played alongside Farid Shawki. Misk wa Anbar, which also stars the
famous Egyptian actress Nahid Sharif, was an adaptation of the 1969
Hollywood classic Hello Dolly, staring Barbara Streisand. He acted
with the famed Lebanese singer Sabah in Funduk al-Ahlam (The Dream
Hotel), al-Millionara (The Millionaire) and Uqd al-Lulu (The Pearl
Necklace), which also included the Syrian singer Fahd Ballan. In the
1990s, Lahham negotiated making a movie with Adil Imam, the giant of
Egyptian comedy, called Watan fi al-Alali (A Homeland Up High), but
the idea never materialized. He also made numerous movies with
prominent Syrian actors, including Wahid za'ed wahid (One plus
one) with Talhat Hamdi, Gharam fi
Istanbul (Love in Istanbul) with Rafiq Sibayi, Imra'a Taskun wahdiha (A Woman Lives
on Her Own) with Anwar al-Baba, and Indama Taghib al-Zawjat, with
Abd al-Latiff Fathi, his co-star from the TV series, Sah al-Nawm.
His most memorable movies are al-Hudud (The Border), al-Takrir (The
Report), and Kafroun. The first, produced in 1987, starred Lahham
and the Egypt-based Syrian actress Raghda. It told the story of an
Arab voyager, who loses his passport between two Arab countries, and
is forced to camp on the borderline, where neither country agrees to
let him in. The movie, written by political playwright Mohammad al-Maghout,
was a sharp criticism of the current Arab regimes, that preach Arab
unity, yet are far from achieving it when a passport forbids an Arab
citizen from moving about freely in the Arab World, causing him in
fact, to lose his own country and identity as well. At a film
festival in Egypt, the movie was so popular that movie-goers coined
Lahham "the Arabic Charlie Chaplin." The second film al-Takrir, also
starring Raghdad, is about an honest civil servant who refuses to be
bribed, and is forced out of office by his corrupt seniors. He
refuses to give in, and rather, decides to present a report about
all the wrongs taking place in the Arab world, to his leaders. When
he goes to confront them at a football match, he intrudes on the
players, is caught between both teams, and stomped to death. His
prized report is destroyed, and its papers scattered on the soccer
field, unread. The last film was a touching comedy-drama, called
Kafroun starring Lahham and a group of children, made in 1990. Following the Arab defeat in the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, Lahham moved into theater and applied constructive criticism and political satire to his work, abandoning the traditional comedies he had made in the 1960s and early 1970s. He joined Mohammad al-Maghout, a political playwright, and began performing plays that criticized Arab inefficiency, weaknesses, corruption, and poverty. Lahham’s first show was called Masrah al-Shawq (Theater of Thorns) and it consisted of naive, primitive political comedy, but was greatly welcomed by Arab audiences. Authorities in Syria wanted to arrest Lahham for his “hidden meanings,” however the then-Defense Minister Hafez al-Asad refused, claiming that Lahham must be allowed to speak as he pleased. Lahham, Qali, and Maghout created an excellent team, dividing the plot, dialogue, and acting among themselves, while making the famed TV director Khaldun al-Maleh the director of all of their plays. The plays of Duraid Lahham became the only outlet for marginal political criticism and relief in the Middle East throughout the 1970s and 1980s. His popularity soared, not only in Syrian but in many other Arab countries as well. He toured the Arab world with four plays Day’at Tishreen (October Village), dealing with the Arab-Israeli War of 1973; Ghorba (Alienation), dealing with Arab immigration to the West; and Kasak ya Watan (Cheers to the Homeland), which was performed in 1979. The last play shows Ghawar as an Arab citizen who has great pride in the Arab people and who is forced to abandon his nationalist emotions because he is humiliated in his country. In Lahham’s own words, “it is a play about the death of relations between citizens and their country.” In it, the protagonist’s daughter dies due to poor health services and negligence on the behalf of public service doctors. Moreover, he is forced to sell his remaining male children to earn a living. Eventually, he is arrested on false charges by his country’s intelligence service and, when released, sells the medals of his father, a war-hero who was killed in battle against Israel, to purchase alcohol. He resorts to drinking heavily, saying that this is the best way for him to forget that he is an Arab living in miserable conditions. Lahham’s next work was Shaka’ik al-Nu’man (Anemones), a sequel to the 1974 Day’at Tishreen, was his last collaboration with Maghout. In it, Lahham demonstrates that Arabs, just like anemones, die if they are uprooted from their homeland. He calls on Arabs living abroad to return in order to build a better future for Arab generations. The play is interesting since it portrays the confused Arab world Lahham was living in, where the past is mixed with the present, and where the dead talk, interact, and work, with the living. Leaders throughout the Arab world received Lahham when performing each show. He even toured the Americas, performing to the large Arab émigré communities. In 1992, Lahham made his final two plays, al-Usfura al-Sa'ida (The Happy Bird), a children's show with the ballerina Bernadette Hudayb, and Sani' al-Matar (The Rainmaker), an Arabic version of The Rainmaker by Richard Nash. Both were written and directed by Lahham. In his 60s, Lahham would perform two shows every day, one in the early afternoon for children, and one in the evening for adults. He finally retired from stage acting in 1993, claiming that “the big issues have collapsed” and that Arab audiences were not eager to listen to the issues he dealt with in the 1970s. He continues to act on television, however, and in the cinema. Complete filmography
- Cinema
- Theatre
- T.V
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On
July 23, 1960, Syrian Television was inaugurated in Damascus, during
the years of the Syrian-Egyptian Union. Duraid Lahham was among the
earliest actors in Syrian Television, hired by its first director,
Dr Sabah Qabbani, to act alongside Nihad Qali, a famous name from
Syrian theatre, in a mini-series called Sahret Dimashq (Damascus
Evening). In it, Lahham played the role of Carlos Miranda, a Spanish
clown living in Old Damascus. Lahham played Carlos in this show, and
another called al-Ijaza al-Sa'ida (The Happy Holiday). Carlos was a
funny character, but failed to achieve for Lahham the popularity he
desired, and he abandoned it early on to play Ghawar al-Tawsheh, a
local clown from Damascus, in a comedy series called Maqalib Ghawar
(Ghawar's Pranks) in 1965. Lahham and Qali created an Arabic version
of Laurel and Hardy, and performed in three television shows
that became instant classics throughout the Arab world. He played
the role of Ghawar, a slapstick clown, rascal, and prankster who
resorts to ludicrous pranks in order to attain his desires in life:
a woman he loves, a job, money, and a chance to sing at a local
café, and much more. His aspirations are always hampered by Qali,
who plays the role of Husni al-Burazan, a decent and peaceful man
who is kindhearted and who always puts up with the madness of Ghawar,
often resulting in physical, financial, and moral suffering. “Doreid
& Nihad” as they were known, were the stars of a TV series Sah al-Nawm
(Good Morning) in 1971, in which Ghawar tries in vain to win the
heart of a woman that is in love with Burazan. A heartbroken Ghawar
tries to kill Burazan, implicate him in robbery, and bankrupt him.
When all else fails, he gives his beloved a dose of special medicine
that makes her lose her memory and stop loving Burazan (Qali). The
show was so popular that Lahham produced a sequel in 1973, and made
a movie carrying the same title. The evil yet lovable Ghawar quickly
became a household name in Syria and throughout the Arab world.
Ghawar the prankster continued to appear on television until 1981,
when Lahham replaced him with Ghawar the good citizen, who is often
overpowered by strong and powerful men in society, and almost
always, defeated. In a sense, the new Ghawar took on the
characteristics of Husni al-Burazan, and appeared as such in Kasak
Ya Watan (Cheers to the Homeland) in 1978, and Wadi al-Misk (The
Misk Valley) in 1981. The last time the good Ghawar appeared on TV
was in 1998, in a long series called Awdet Ghawar (The Return of
Ghawar) that was a combination of drama and comedy. In 1987, Lahham
created the character of Wadud, a replica of the good Ghawar only
under a different name, for the film al-Hudud (The Border). Wadud
appeared again in Kafroun in 1990, and is currently being played by
Lahham in his new movie al-Aba'e al-Sighar (The Small Fathers),
which is due for filming in 2005. The humble, kind, and defeated
Ghawar, or Wadud, was a reflection of the humble, kind, and defeated
Arab citizen, who is overpowered by regional and international
circumstances, and is unable, and unwilling, to say no to his fate,
accepting it rather sluggishly. Ghawar in the cinema only assumed
serious and political traits when in 1981, Lahham made
Imbaratoriyyat Ghawar (The Empire of Ghawar). In it, Ghawar plays
the role of a man who saves a neighborhood, symbolically
representing a state, from the rivalries of two men quarrelling for
power. He defeats them both, claiming to want equality and freedom
for all, but no sooner are they toppled than he sets himself up as a
dictator instead, imposing his will on everyone, with force, and
employing an army of henchmen who steal, kill, and terrorize the
people to maintain his "regime."