When Omid Djalili sets foot on the Dubai Opera stage this week, he will be full of gratitude. And who could blame him?
The British-Iranian comic has had six months of gigs cancelled because of the pandemic, but is fortunate enough to leave the UK just as the country enters a second national lockdown.
Speaking to The National before his show on Saturday, October 7, Djalili says he is raring to go.
“I haven’t really performed since March, so what the audience will see in Dubai is, first and foremost, a grateful man,” he says. “Every moment will be savoured. Every single joke and routine I will perform with absolute appreciation and gratitude to God. It will be an almost a religious experience.”
No laughing matter
That shift in perspective will also permeate Djalili’s material. While his work has always been laced with piercing insights on society and politics, he feels the pandemic has the potential to alter stand-up comedy as we know it.
He predicts cheap laughs will be replaced with more thoughtful and soulful content.
"The world has changed and, because of that, we as people have changed," he says. "I see this every day with the people I talk to. There are no more meaningless conversations. I mean, there is some chitchat, but people are getting to the point quicker. And that will change the way we do comedy."
This means Djalili will waste no time in getting to the heart of the matter. Where, previously, the opening minutes of his shows were spent warming up the crowd with rapid-fire puns, he plans to immediately delve into some of his learnings amid the pandemic.
One of which, he has discovered, is to keep busy. “For me, I realised that I needed to continue creating, whatever it is, I need to keep on with that,” he says.
This led Djalili to a realisation.
“I forgot that I actually had an Instagram account,” he says, chuckling. “It was actually created for me by a comedy club years ago and it had like 3,000 followers. So I thought, 'why don’t I take it over and create little videos that become like a diary of what I am doing?'”
Now with 16,000 followers, the account is home to some wonderfully eclectic posts, from quirky commentary on news events to a whimsical video in which Djalili pays tribute to his late father.
Working within the boundaries
That balance of hilarity and heart has always stood Djalili in good stead.
It gave him a diverse audience over a three-decade career with shows played in edgy clubs in New York and London, as well as headlining gala events attended by members of the British royal family.
Djalili dismisses the notion his material is safe. Just because his jokes are not racy, he says, doesn't mean they lack finesse and technique. He adds that working within established guidelines can also be rewarding.
“A lot of this has to do with the culture I am from. In Iran, particularly at the very beginning of the current regime, it was very difficult for filmmakers because they had very strict boundaries,” he says.
“But the interesting thing is that they learnt to work within that structure and produce some amazing work. They took their inspiration from classical music where composers like Bach and Bartok faced their own restrictions – like only being able to use a certain number of notes per octave – and they went on to create beautiful music.”
The time he was sacked from a Johnny Depp film
Then again, there are certain limits Djalili can't help but overstep, such as his experience working on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
As a well-regarded screen and stage actor, Djalili built a solid Hollywood career with supporting roles in Gladiator (2000), Spy Game (2001) and 2018's Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
Not even the experience of working on outlandish productions such as 1999's The Mummy and the James Bond film The World is Not Enough could have prepared him for the ridiculousness of playing swashbuckling pirate Askay in the 2007 film.
“I got fired from that,” he said. “I was playing this role where I had a sword. The crew was looking for a simple sweeping camera shot but they kept stopping because I kept messing about. I was doing all these samurai moves. Then they took the sword away from me and gave me a gun. Then I pretended to be James Bond. Then I was taken off the set and was told to pack up my bags because my flight was in three hours. Just like that I was out ... I am quite proud of that experience, actually.”
Omid Djalili performs at Dubai Opera on Saturday, November 7 at 8pm. Tickets from Dh195. For details, visit dubaiopera.com
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
