Hanan Turk refuses to wear Shakira’s revealing outfits

Published July 12th, 2003 - 03:00 GMT

Egyptian actress Hanan Turk has made it clear to the director of her new film “Shakira Fil Muneera” (Shakira in Muneera) that she will not wear the extremely revealing cloths that Lebanese-Colombian singer Shakira wears for her role in the film. The actress has requested that the designer assigned to make the cloths for the film to make her outfits similar to those of Shakira’s but not as revealing and seducing.

It was revealed that a French make-up artist has been called in to undertake the responsibility of making Hanan look as much as possible like Shakira, reported the Egyptian weekly, Al Nogoom. Egyptian director Ahmad Midhat was nominated to be the director of the film, who on his part has nominated Hanan for the leading role in one of his films alongside Egyptian actor Yousif Shabaan.

Turk was nominated to play the role of Shakira in the new since producers felt that Hanan would be the most suited actress to play the part of Shakira for the existence of a similar resemblance.

The film had created a commotion with the Egyptian censorship committee, for the fact that the film holds the name of the famous singer and there was a fear of facing lawsuits over the issue. Even though the film does not directly interfere with the singer's persona, officials felt that it is in the best interest to take precautions against any expected legal suit by the singer.

Head of the censorship committee Madkour Thabet expressed that an acceptance for the film should be made officially and according to the law in order not to risk any unexpected lawsuits. Madkour revealed that the whole issue began when he received a rejection over the film because it is targeted at the famous singer and uses her name in its title. He added that he did not find anything in the script that needed censorship aside from the fact that if the producers are to go on with filming they must either change the name of the film or present an official agreement from the singer saying that it is alright to use her name, which they did.

Coincidence had it that the producer of the film Hassan Ramzi has previously run into several problems with the censors over the topics of his films. But this time Ramzi stressed that the film does not threaten in any way Shakira's image and on the contrary it just shows how much the singer is loved and appreciated in Egypt.

The film is about a young girl who is infatuated with Shakira. The girl is so into the singer that she sings and performs in exactly the same manner, in addition to looking a lot like the singer. The writer of the film Nihad Abdul Aziz was shocked with the censorship over the commotion caused. She said that the film does not affect Shakira in any way negative, and in fact it just goes to show how much Shakira is loved by women and men and how most girls look up to her as their role model. . –Albawaba.com