My favourite tycoon
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Nour El-Sherif
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When the going gets tough, the tough get going. This seems to be the moral of the story in El-Daly, the Ramadan television serial starring Nour El-Sherif. A setback should never break you. Stay focussed, fight to the end, and before you know it you'll be back on your feet, stronger than before. All of which makes better sense when you are a maverick mogul appointed housing minister by President Anwar Sadat. In the context of the life, that is, of Saad El-Daly, the (not so) fictional character superstar El-Sherif so ably presents this Ramadan. Born into the lower middle class but vowing to find a place among the rich and powerful, this self- made billionaire sets out as a construction worker, but before too long he has managed to build Egypt's most powerful construction company, with huge projects in over 20 countries, El-Daly Group. He gets close to the head of state and commands a steadily growing business empire. This, despite having to live through one of the most turbulent periods in contemporary Egyptian history. Meanwhile he marries his sweetheart Olfat (Sawsan Badr) and becomes the proud father of two boys and two girls. How does it all happen?
When the serial opens, El-Daly is shown to be not only a business mastermind but, more importantly, a devoted patriarch at the centre of a sprawling palace: his eldest son has just married and his eldest daughter - already married to her paternal cousin - is in the last few days of her pregnancy. There is perfect harmony in this home, disturbed only by the looks El-Daly exchanges with his son-in- law: an unequivocal sign of serious trouble to come. His wife is loving and devoted, and everyone knows exactly where they stand. In deference, that is, to the great father. Here as elsewhere on TV, El-Sherif chooses a script in which the family is central, probing the trials and tribulations of Egypt's most hallowed institution. This time, viewers are convinced he does so through the example of a famous family: a true story tweaked just enough to avoid legal troubles. No sooner has the serial started than an attempt on El-Daly's life leaves him with his elder son Hossan, apple of his eye, dead in his arms. The old man is temporarily disabled as a result, and Hossam's newlywed is bed-ridden in hospital (later it transpires that she is pregnant). For five episodes, while the ramifications of the shooting are presented, the audience scratch their head before the question of whether El-Daly and his family are a model of good or bad power - the mafia-style shooting makes it hard to judge - whereupon flashbacks commence to tell the Daly story from the beginning.
The hospital period over - and it's hard not to sympathise with the traumatised family, especially when the sister gives birth to a baby boy, naming him after her dead brother - various aspects of the tycoon's character begin to show: his incredible perseverance, unbreakable will; how, for example, when his company is nationalised under President Gamal Abdel-Nasser in the 1960s, he makes the most impressive comeback. Ruthless though he may be, he is kind and generous to his employees, believing that security makes for productivity. "Neither angel nor devil" is how he describes himself, with a wry smile. In one particularly powerful episode El-Daly travels to Turkey while still not fully recovered to negotiate the release of his younger son, held captive by the Turkish, agreeing to an exorbitant deal to buy time while his Bulgarian connection kidnaps the mafia man's brother. A lesson in the art of war. After the swap, indeed, El-Daly hands over neither the 15 percent originally agreed on nor the 30 percent demanded for the release of his son but 20 percent, as a token of peace - so he tells the perplexed young man - so that he will no longer have to contend with mafia harassment while he undertakes work in Turkey. Nor does he stop there.
Turkey over, El-Daly is once again treading on thin ice in a mysterious, conspicuously risky UK deal, only to face more trouble on his return to Egypt. His advisors say he should wait, but El-Daly immediately embarks on a plan. "The master of the game," he tells them, "must always take the lead." A statement that seems to be taken out of the memoirs of the real-life tycoon on whom El-Daly seems to be based. Awaiting more charisma, gallantry and suspense, one cannot help wondering how the story of this enigmatic and uncompromising talent will end.
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