Who among us does not remember the movie The Magician, which despite the passage of 19 years since its presentation, is still a sign in the cinema, and in it was the first appearance of the brilliant artist Minh Shalaby.
In 2001, an exciting film came to light, causing widespread controversy in the artistic community, revealing male and female artists who have had great weight so far.
The artist embodied the role of the daughter of the magician Mansour Bahgat, played by Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, who decides to lock up his daughter at home for fear of mixing with the surrounding environment. Menna Shalaby performed several bold scenes in the film, which exposed her to widespread criticism.
During her interview on a personal drama program that was shown earlier, Menna Shalaby said that she does not want to delete any scenes from her life in the montage. She added that the life of any person can turn into a drama, describing the human journey in life from its beginning to the end with the feature film, noting that the late director Radwan Al-Kashef, who discovered her in the film The Magician, and the artist Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, whom she considers her godfather, who presented her to the cinema, It affected her greatly.
In another interview with the media, Issaad Younes, on the program Her Excellency, broadcast on CBC, she revealed new scenes for her second cinematic work, The Magician, which sparked widespread controversy because of her exaggerated audacity.
She said: “I did not know anything about cinema at the time or filming the movie, and I was very technically naive, and with time I had experience…and the director, Professor Radwan Al-Kashef, was the one who told me what to do.”
And she added: “Professor Radwan is the one who taught me everything, and I am very lazy, and I did not expect that I would be perfect, and my mother was the one who told me that I would be like.”
And she continued, “My mother told me that she would be an actress, because I would not lie to her because the school is lonely, and she told me to do something that will benefit you instead of what you are doing to me all the time, and in the meantime, I met Professor Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, and he was looking for a girl who was working in the movie The Wizard.”
And she continued: “Professor Radwan taught me everything about the film, and said that I must act, and formed my formation as an actress in the film The Magician, and he was the one who made me an actress, and he was telling me what to do exactly, I did not know anything about the magician.”
Always in her appearance, Mena does not show any regrets about her role in the film, and considers that the only thing she regrets is her classification as a seductive actress, and she said that it is an honor for me to stand before the late director Radwan Al-Kashef.
In an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah, he said that her mother, the retired artist, was angry with her after she heard the criticisms leveled against her role in the film.
As for her ideal and closest friend to her heart, she says: “My teacher Radwan Al-Kashef, who is considered the only director who was able to direct a film that combines the commercial aspect
And the artist at the same time, as in the movie (The Magician), although he produced only three works, as for my closest friends are Dalia Al-Behairi, Hind Sabry and Ahmed Al-Sakka.
The events of the film take place in a popular neighborhood in Old Egypt, where “Mansour Bahgat” and his daughter live, and “Mansour Bahgat”, a marginalized magician who lives among a group of marginalized people who live in crowded places.
And they try to make their lives something joyful. Mansour is depressed from his way of life and decides to become the reason for people’s happiness and seeks to bring joy in their souls.