Egyptian Grandmas Stealing the Spotlight: Iconic Roles Shaping Family TV & Cinema
Family Egyptian shows have been growing immensely, taking over streaming platforms, especially during the Ramadan season. Even during the off-season, these shows continue to take over platforms in a big way.
Now, they are even focusing on specific aspects of family life, with the most recent being a big focus on the beating root of every Egyptian family tree, the grandma. To celebrate the role, we will take a look at prominent grandmas who took over our screens:
Essad Younis In Teta Zouzou
One show, in particular, spotlights Egyptian grandmas. It is called Teta Zouzou and stars Essad Younis as the prominent glue to a family of four kids.
They all have grown up, got married, and had children, and we get to see her interactions with them and her grandchildren. This is a typical portrayal of an Egyptian grandma and makes for a new and refreshing look at family life.
Mimi Gamal In Kamel El Adad
Taking the wheel when it comes to depicting the purest, most traditional Egyptian grandma is the legendary Mimi Gamal.
She was the one character who epitomized the spirit of the grandma to the tee. Throughout her role in “Kamel El Adad,” she had a relentless stubbornness to do things the old way. It was always her way or the highway.
That is why there would always be hilarious clashes between her and the younger generations, including how shocked she was to find one of her grandchildren in a crop top and give her a lecture on how she can’t walk around the streets half-naked.
Of course, she performed every one of those moments with her usual hilarious and fiery energy.
Samiha Ayoub In Teita Rahiba
Continuing the strict grandma role was Samiha Ayoub’s iconic role in Teita Rahiba. This movie puts the grandma at the center stage in a role where she exerts her stubborn relentlessness to have things go her way.
In the film, her grandson, Raouf, feels tied down by her, but even when he tries to escape her to marry the love of his life, she manages to stop him. In Egypt, not having the grandma’s blessing is as bad as not having the mother’s, trust us!
Dalal, Enaam & Mervet In A’iz AlWeld
In the past few examples, we spoke about singular grandmas in titular film and TV show roles, but how about a group of grandmas, a posse, if you will?
Well, there is one cool example, and that has to be Ablah, Suhair and Kiki. These three grandmas, played by Dalal Abdel Aziz, Enaam Salosa, and Mervet Amin, show one of the purest characteristics of any typical grandma: protecting their grandchildren at all costs.
That is why when their grandchildren end up getting kidnapped on their way to school, it is not the mothers but rather the grandmas that team up to bring them back.
After being introduced to these TV and film grandmas, tell us if they remind you of your own grandma and, if so, in what way.
