Director Dawood Abdul Alsaid has nominated Lebanese singer/performer Haifa Wahbi for the leading role alongside prominent Egyptian actor Ahmad Zaki in the upcoming film “Rasa’el Al Bahr” (Letters from Sea). Wahbi has given her initial acceptance for the role, which will mark her first experience in the acting world, and expressed her honor at being chosen to be act alongside such a renowned actor as Ahmad.
According to the London based Elaph, the director has also nominated Olympics wrestling gold medalist Karam Jaber to take part in the film, also marking the first time he takes part in the cinema. The shooting of the scenes is scheduled to begin during the beginning of March 2005.
Previously, Ahmad had notified Dawood that he will not be able to take part in the film due to state of depression and exhaustion he was going through, but has gone back on his decision and expressed his willingness for playing the leading role in the film.
According to the UAE based daily, Al Bayan, the past few days the actor has lost his appetite for
Since the participation of Wahbi in the prestigious Carthage Festival in Tunisia disputes had erupted between the singer and her production company Rotana, which had exclusively sponsored the event. The main thing behind the disputes is Haifa’s public announcement to the press that Rotana was not behind her participation in the grand event and that she had received an invitation from an official Tunisian party (the Ministry of Information).
Haifa had also stated that Rotana attempted to stop her from taking part in the festival for some unknown reasons. The situation since that time had gotten worse, especially by Haifa’s constant announcements to the press saying that her contract with Rotana is about to end and that she does not think of renewing it.
The disputes escalated tremendously when Haifa’s latest music video was being aired on the music channel Melody, which is a competitor of Rotana. When word reached Rotana, officials went into a rage stressing that the contracts between them and any of their singers forbids the latter of airing their music videos anywhere beside Rotana’s music channel and channels that they have agreements with. Officials at Rotana sent a warning to Haifa and to Melody demanding that the airing of the music video is stopped immediately. -Albawaba.com
