The holidays can be particularly hard for anyone who has lost a loved one and for Egyptian actress, Rania Fareed Shawqi, this year's Eid means just that. Many in the business said Rania owed her success to her legendary father, Farid Shawqi, who died 14 years ago.
Known at the 'John Wayne' of Arabic cinema, Farid acted in nearly 400 movies during his lengthy career in front of and behind the cameras. Two of his daughters have joined the entertainment business but neither have replicated their father's level of fame.
But as well as being a movie star, Farid was also a dad and this year, Rania told reporters, she will be thinking of him as just that: “I keep remembering how my father would hold me and my sister Abeer so close in his arms and take us to Eid Al Adha prayers. We would wear new clothes and then visit all our relatives,” she explained.
"We would also go with our late father to buy the holiday sheep to sacrifice, but once it would be time to sacrifice the sheep, our father would take us away from the scene immediately,” she added.
It is a heartwarming tale but sister, Nahed, may not be quite so teary at Rania's words. Nahed is more often found off screen than on and has been planning to produce a TV drama about the life of her father, Farid, for some time. But this Eid, acting sister, Rania, announced that she is not prepared to take part in the family movie. According to her, she doesn't want to steal her sister's thunder by adding her (more famous) name to the project. Sounds to us like a family rift has occurred...
