Aside from its religious significance, the holy month of Ramadan is increasingly associated with TV programmes and soap operas in Egypt and the Arab world. Ahmed Ali writes
The holy month of Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic calendar, is a special month for Muslims across the Arab and Muslim world. Ramadan commemorates the time when the Qura’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) on Laylat al-Qadr, one of the last ten nights of the month, and also because fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. The month traditionally begins with a new moon sighting and ends when the first crescent of the new moon is next sighted.
Given that millions in Egypt and the Arab world fast in the daylight hours, almost the whole nation eats at the same time when they break their fast.
Capitalising on the fact that people do not have the will to move after gorging themselves and slipping into a food coma after breaking the fast at family gatherings, studios and media producers across Egypt and the Arab world save their best programmingof the year for Ramadan.
It is then that commercial TV channels show their highest monthly ratings. Consequently Ramadan’s television entertainment, including soap operas and TV advertisements, has become a business in its own right.
The earliest non-religious, Ramadan-themed productions were the Fawazeer, serialised puzzles launched on Egyptian radio in the early 1960s. Two radio personalities in particular were associated with the Fawazeer: Amal Fahmy and Samia Sadek, who would ask viewers to solve riddles and send in their answers by post.
Fawazeer appeared on television in 1967 and they quickly became an annual tradition and an essential part of entertainment in Egypt and across the Arab world. Many Egyptian actors appeared on Fawazeer, but perhaps the names most associated with the variety show, even today, are Nelly, Samir Ghanem and Sherihan.
In the 1990s, with the rise of Arab satellite channels, Fawazeer were replaced by soap operas and candid camera shows, which now dominate the airwaves throughout the holy month. For the Arab TV industry, Ramadan is a do-or-die season leading to ever heightened viewer expectations. Hence the cost of Ramadan’s dramas, soaps and comedies has sky-rocketed.
More than 27 series have been introduced to viewers this year. According to media reports, actors’ wages in Ramadan soap operas exceeds LE162mn. Egyptian actor Adel Emam tops the list with LE35mn for his role in the Ostaz Wa Ra’ies Qesm (Professor and head of department) series, while Lebanese singer and actress Haifaa Wahbi received LE20mn for her role in the Mariam series. Karim Abdel-Aziz also reportedly received LE20mn. Actor Ahmed al-Sakka and actress Ghada Abdel-Razik were each paid LE18mn for their roles in Zihab Wa Awda (Round-Trip) and Kaboos respectively. Actor Ahmed Mekki received LE17mn for his series Al-Kabeer Awi.
Lebanese actress Sireen Abdel-Nour was paid LE14mn for her role in 24 Kirat, one of the most anticipated Lebanese shows. Egyptian actor Mostafa Shaaban was paid LE12mn for his role in the Mawlana al-Asheq series, and actress Donia Samir Ghanem received LE8mn for her role in the Lahfa series. The list goes on.
While the private satellite channels expands their budget for this Ramadan, the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) has cut its budget compared with last year.
“ERTU will show 11 TV series during Ramadan this year,” Ahmed Sakr, TV director and deputy head of the ERTU, said. The list includes Taht al-Saytara (Under Control); Zarf Eswed (The Black Envelope); and Yawmeyat Zawga Mafousa (The Diary of a Devastated Wife) ; all co-produced by the ERTU and other production companies. Sakr said that Dunya Gedida (A New World) was the only show independently produced by ERTU.
One of the shows, Bein al-Sarayat, which borrows its name from a working class neighbourhood near Cairo University, explores life in the area and how it is influenced by the university and its students. The show teams Bassem Samra and Amr Abed with Lebanese actress Madlin Tabar and Egyptian singer Simone, who has been away from the screen for several years.
Dunya Gedida (New World) follows the story of a retired clerk who starts preaching in his neighbourhood mosque. The clerk struggles in the face of an extremist group’s desire to control the neighbourhood. The show’s main protagonists are played by renowned actors Hassan Youssef and Ahmed Bedeir.
ERTU has cut its budget compared with last year, says Shawkeya Abbas, head of ERTU’s financial sector. To support ERTU, actors have accepted LE5mn for their contribution to the series, which is half last year’s figure. ERTU’s share in the production costs is approximately LE21mn.
Abbas, who revealed details of negotiations with Arab TV channels to market the shows, expects revenues of LE24mn from advertisements broadcast during Ramadan.
Elsewhere, to develop the quality—which viewers expect to be higher each season—One Thousand and One Nights (Alf Leila w Leila) will be no less impressive than Hollywood movies, thanks to the visual effects that involve the most recent technology, the Lebanese actress Nicole Saba, who plays the main protagonist Scheherazade, told MENA.
The star said that modern technology had helped turn Alf Leila w Leila into a great production. Its graphics team included several experts from the United States and Poland who had previously worked on such international films as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
Although the series is inspired by the famous tale of The Thousand and One Nights, in which the King, Shahrayar, kills a woman every night until the last scheduled victim, Scheherazade, uses her wit and storytelling skills to intrigue him for 1,001 nights and thus save her life, Saba revealed that the show presents the story with a modern twist when Scheherazade decides to take revenge for all the women the king killed
“The team wanted to portray the old tales and through them communicate moral messages to younger generations, who have heard about them but never had the chance to watch or read them,” Saba said. “This is why the same technologies that are used in Hollywood fantasy films were incorporated into the series.”
High quality was also a focus in the candid camera show Ramez Wakel al-Gaw. For this reason, Paris Hilton will appear in an upcoming episode, for which, according to media reports, Hilton was paid US$250,000. The programme, which runs each Ramadan under a different theme, sees popular Egyptian actor Galal trick celebrities into a variety of embarrassing, and sometimes seemingly dangerous, situations.
In the same show, Lebanese singer George Wassouf and Egyptian actor Muhammad Heniedy were each paid LE100,000.
Because millions gather round their TV screens every night, the cost of a 30-second advertisement during peak Ramadan viewing hours can be more than twice the normal rate. Channels are competing to acquire the maximum number of advertisements during Ramadan, especially given that the expected advertising revenue is estimated at LE500mn, roughly 30 per cent of the year’s advertising volume.
An official from the MBC Masr satellite channel, which is broadcasting a large number of dramas and other programmes this Ramadan, was quoted by Daily News Egypt as saying that buying and producing programmes cost the channel about LE128mn. He said revenues were expected to reach LE175mn, which would be the highest for MBC Masr since it began broadcasting in Egypt. The channel had entered into contracts with some advertisers worth LE22mn, and he expected to reach the targeted revenue during Ramadan.
The official added that an advertisement package in the channel cost about LE9mn, while a 30-second individual advertisements could fetch LE65,000.
