Looking at the larger picture in Khalid Ali’s Love X-Large

Love X-Large, directed by the Emirati Khalid Ali, is a touching tale of unrequited love with a local twist.

An overweight young Emirati man, Aswaaq, has his life turned upside down when he is rejected by the object of his affections – his cousin – because he is obese. The 18-minute film, which is in Arabic with English subtitles, is shot in both colour and black and white.

Ali based his story on his own real-life experiences with the opposite sex, and it was after telling his tales of woe to friends Mahmood Al Kattan and Omar Altamimi that they wove his story into a film script. Al Kattan also stars in the lead role as Aswaaq, the spurned lover.

“This film talks about a type of love which exists in our community,” says Ali. “It’s about a guy who has liked a girl since he was a teenager and as he grows up it develops into love. So the guy decides to propose to the girl whom he loves. But she refuses and rejects him, just because he’s obese.”

Ali, 42, has been directing films for TV and cinema since 1992. It's not the first time he has made a film about looking beyond the surface. His 1999 documentary The Diver and the Shark, which won him a prize at Tunisia's Carthage Film Festival, drives home a similar message.

“I wanted to show that the white shark looks harmless but actually it’s one of the most dangerous sharks. And the tiger shark looks very scary and terrifying but is totally harmless. The idea of the film is that there are people who look handsome, cute and beautiful, but they have a black and merciless heart. And there are people who look ugly, dirty and scary but they have a nice, kind, lovely, innocent heart.”

• Love X-Large is being shown as part of the Muhr Emirati package at Mall of the Emirates 6 on Tuesday, December 16, at 2pm

artslife@thenational.ae

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

8 traditional Jamaican dishes to try at Kingston 21

Trench Town Rock: Jamaican-style curry goat served in a pastry basket with a carrot and potato garnish
Rock Steady Jerk Chicken: chicken marinated for 24 hours and slow-cooked on the grill
Mento Oxtail: flavoured oxtail stewed for five hours with herbs
Ackee and salt fish: the national dish of Jamaica makes for a hearty breakfast
Jamaican porridge: another breakfast favourite, can be made with peanut, cornmeal, banana and plantain
Jamaican beef patty: a pastry with ground beef filling
Hellshire Pon di Beach: Fresh fish with pickles
Out of Many: traditional sweet potato pudding

The cost of Covid testing around the world

Egypt

Dh514 for citizens; Dh865 for tourists

Information can be found through VFS Global.

Jordan

Dh212

Centres include the Speciality Hospital, which now offers drive-through testing.

Cambodia

Dh478

Travel tests are managed by the Ministry of Health and National Institute of Public Health.

Zanzibar

AED 295

Zanzibar Public Health Emergency Operations Centre, located within the Lumumba Secondary School compound.

Abu Dhabi

Dh85

Abu Dhabi’s Seha has test centres throughout the UAE.

From Dh400

Heathrow Airport now offers drive through and clinic-based testing, starting from Dh400 and up to Dh500 for the PCR test.

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions