Fourth Wife role was unique

Stunning actress addresses 'Islamist' criticism Cairo - Khaled Ali In an interview with Arabstoday, Egyptian actress Heba Magdi speaks candidly  about her TV hosting ambitions saying "It's not so different from acting." While pleased with her TV performances in her past three drama series shown during Ramadan, Heba wanted to make clear that her role in el-Zouga el-Rabea [The Fourth Wife] was not intended to "flirt" with Islamists. Describing  her character Hoda in The Fourth Wife, Heba pointed out that the character "was totally different to any I have played before. When I began studying for the role, I deliberately made a distinction.  The nature of the character itself actually helped me a lot, because I play a religious woman who wears the niqab and is never seen without clutching her prayer beads. All these characteristics affected my performance." The actress received a certain amount of criticism for wearing the veil and the niqab in the series, but defending this, she said: "I only wore the niqab when outside the house or when there were guests in the house. It was necessary as in the show, I would either be praying or reading the Koran. Besides, Hoda wanted to prove a point  that she is religious, so wearing the veil and niqab was not out-of-place." Asked whether the role was pandering towards Egypt's Islamist currents after their recent ascent to power, Magdi replied: "I don't actually see a link here, especially as many women who wear the niqab have nothing to do with the [Muslim] Brotherhood or the Salafists, including many of my relatives. Besides, Hoda does not function as a mouthpiece for any sort of religious current in the show." Magdi also expressed surprise at the comparison made between her roles in the TV series Qadiyet Maali al-Wazeera [Her Excellency the Minister's Case] and Qessatul Ams [Yesterday's Tale]. "The two roles are completely different! My role in Her Excellency the Minister's Case bears no comparison with the character May I performed in Yesterday's Tale.  The former had a different kind of mindset - her closeness to her mother following the death of her father was instrumental in her objecting strongly to her mother's marriage. She also suffered a serious shock when her mother was accused of murder," the actress added. As for her recent role in the series al-Imam al-Ghazali, which starred Mohammed Riyadh, Magdi was clearly delighted by the reviews she received for the role, saying: "It didn't get very high ratings in the middle of all the drama influx during Ramadan." When asked whether she would take the plunge and move into TV presenting, Heba explained she has been offered to host the show Touk al-Nagaa ["Lifeline", currently presented by broadcaster Dina Abdallah on Tahrir TV], but was unable to  reach an agreement with the network. "I saw some snippets of the show after it went out and really liked the idea, which revolves around serving social causes by supporting the needy, either materially or morally." Heba added that in the past she has turned down the opportunity  to host a political chat show, saying: "If an actor decides to go into TV hosting, it's not right to compare them to a professional presenter who studied journalism. So it wouldn't be appropriate  for me to present a political chat show because there are certain requirements there, but I could present an arts programme which is more tailored to my experience."