Amr Diab rebels

After releasing his latest album, Egyptian pop star Amr Diab has announced that he will dedicate himself to working on his upcoming film “Al Mutamarid” (The Rebel), written by Egyptian Midhat Al Adel.

Amr was supposed to have completed the film two years ago, but postponed it due to his music career. The film will be shot between Cairo and Beirut, and Amr is scheduled to begin preparations in the next few days.

In many ways the film is a biography of Amr’s life, portraying the journey of a singer to stardom and the many obstacles he faces along the way.

According to the London based weekly, Laha, rumors speculated that Amr had withdrew from the film after he was offered a role in a film by Syrian director Mustafa Al Akkad.

Both Akkad and Adel have denied the rumors, and Adel confirmed that the singer is very enthusiastic about the film and there are contracts between the two in place.

The last film the singer starred in was “Dahik Wi Li’ib Wi Jad Wi Hub” (Laugh and Play, Serious and Love).

On a different note, disputes have erupted between prominent Egyptian singers Hani Shaker and Amr Diab over the song “Habiba” (My Love), which Hani recently released.

After Hani released the song, he discovered that a version sung by Amr was being aired on different Internet websites, although it was not included in Mar’s latest album.

Problems between the two escalated when each singer refused to give up his rights to the song.

Hani argues that poet Baha’ El Din had approached him with the song first, and he agreed to record it and released it on his latest album.

Hani was shocked when one of the musicians in his band notified him that the same song was being sung by Amr, leading him to believe that someone had allegedly leaked the song.

Hani intends to take legal action.