An Eid classic will be presented in a new light over the holidays.
Almost 50 years since its Cairo stage premiere, the televised version of the Egyptian production Madraset el-Moshaghbeen (The School of Mischief) will be shown in colour for the first time.
Streaming on MBC online platform Shahid, under its paid subscription tier Shahid VIP, fans old and new can savour one of Egyptian actor Adel Imam's all-time great performances in a tale about a new teacher finding her way in a rough-and-tumble Cairo school.
The show will go on to be permanently available on Shahid, with the premiere date to be revealed soon online.
Inspired by a British film
If the plot line sounds familiar, it's because Madraset el-Moshaghbeen was inspired by 1967 British film To Sir, with Love starring Sidney Poitier.
Imam, alongside fellow comedy stalwarts Saeed Saleh and Younes Shalaby, as well as young rising star-at-the-time Ahmed Zaki, played a group of troublesome children who could only be controlled through the unorthodox methods of the new teacher, played by Soheir El Bably.
Written by acclaimed playwright and poet Ali Salem, the production was pivotal for both the Egyptian film and television industry with its cast of mostly newcomers going on to flourish in the proceeding decades.
It also remains a popular calling card for the golden era of Egyptian theatre – a 30-year period ending in the early 1980s – and became a staple of Eid programming across the region.
More classics on offer
Madraset el-Moshaghbeen is part of a growing number of classic Egyptian plays being made available on major streaming services.
In the run up to Eid Al Fitr in 2020, Netflix also rolled back the years by launching an Arabic Nostalgia section featuring 10 vintage productions, all of which remain available to stream today.
These include more Imam performances in 1976's Shahed Ma Shafsh Haga (The Witness Who Saw Nothing) and 1985's El Wad Sayed El Shaghal (Sayed the Servant).
Also included is 1982's Bye Bye London starring late Kuwaiti funnyman Abdulhussain Abdulredha and the dark Egyptian comedy Raya wa Sekina.
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Read more:
How to wish someone a happy Eid: here are six greetings other than Eid Mubarak
Eid Al Fitr 2021: Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez's hologram set for Dubai Opera concert
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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Meydan Racecourse racecard:
6.30pm: The Madjani Stakes Listed (PA) | Dh175,000 | 1,900m
7.05pm: Maiden for 2-year-old fillies (TB) | Dh165,000 | 1,400m
7.40pm: The Dubai Creek Mile Listed (TB) | Dh265,000 | 1,600m
8.15pm: Maiden for 2-year-old colts (TB) | Dh165,000 | 1,600m
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) | Dh265,000 | 2,000m
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh190,000 | 1,200m
10pm: Handicap (TB) | Dh190,000 | 1,600m.
Results:
5pm: Maiden (PA) | Dh80,000 | 1,200 metres
Winner: Jabalini, Szczepan Mazur (jockey), Younis Kalbani (trainer)
5.30pm: UAE Arabian Derby (PA) | Prestige | Dh150,000 | 2,200m
Winner: Octave, Gerald Avranche, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round 3 (PA) | Group 3 Dh300,000 | 2,200m
Winner: Harrab, Richard Mullen, Mohamed Ali
6.30pm: Emirates Championship (PA) | Group 1 | Dh1million | 2,200m
Winner: BF Mughader, Szczepan Mazur, Younis Al Kalbani
7pm: Abu Dhabi Championship (TB) | Group 3 | Dh380,000 | 2,200m
Winner: GM Hopkins, Patrick Cosgrave, Jaber Ramadhan
7.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) | Conditions | Dh70,000 | 1,600m
Winner: AF La’Asae, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
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The biog
Name: Timothy Husband
Nationality: New Zealand
Education: Degree in zoology at The University of Sydney
Favourite book: Lemurs of Madagascar by Russell A Mittermeier
Favourite music: Billy Joel
Weekends and holidays: Talking about animals or visiting his farm in Australia
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5