Sameh Alsuraity talks politics and Actors’ Union plans

Artist Sameh Alsuraity Cairo – Marwa Yehya   Artist Sameh Alsuraity stresses the idea that the best way to honor martyrs who died during the protests of the Egyptian revolution is to achieve the rights they were demanding. He also reminded us that we should not forget the families of those martyrs and the need to support them financially and spiritually. Alsuraity told ArabsToday that although today’s generation was born into an ‘unhealthy and ghastly climate’, they are better off than his generation. They possess individual ways of thinking and enough audacity to have proceeded with the revolution; unlike his generation who enjoyed a ‘healthier’ climate but did nothing about it.
“Our generation stood by and supported today’s generation in their revolution,” he said. Alsuraity suspects that there are covert parties who are trying to cause chaos in Egypt and blame it on religion; demonstrated by the way conflicts were between Muslims and Christians, but also spread to the Salafis, the Brotherhood, the people of Sinai and the Egyptian people; an important detail to remember.
Commenting on his participation in the Arab Summit in Kuwait and the role of Arab media in standing up to the Western media, he says, “Kuwait has a special place in my heart like none other. We discussed a very dangerous issue at the summit which is that Western media plays a role in visibly hurting us without paying any attention to the truth. But at the same time Arab media does not properly represent us, and after the Egyptian elections and the introduction of a Constitution, Egyptian people will not accept media agencies that do not represent it properly.”
Alsuraity is also a member of the Actors’ Union currently discussing what they will be doing next, he says, “the board is currently coming up with different ideas through putting religious limitations in place for all citizens who are a part of the Union and in their participation in decision making.” He continues, “we are going to add an extra service which is a union hotline, whereby anyone can directly call us at any time and tell us their problems and needs.” Alsuraity made it clear that the union will have an active and defined role in society from now on, shown through different cultural and intellectual activities. additionally, they will display an appropriate image of each artist; an image that shows each of their unique hard work and talent. He hopes that those ideas will be implemented in a way that pleases everyone.
He pointed out that the true meaning of winning the union elections was the civilized way it occured, which on its own is a positive step after the revolution. This is something he hopes all other unions would learn from as they are essential to our society.
The artist denied thoughts of thinking about joining a political party, as he has his own way of expressing his political opinions through his artistic works which directly speaks to people. He is also interested in social work, and stays active in workshops, charities and Rotary clubs. Alsuraity stressed that he is against blacklists; the celebrity was previously on one but in his opinion, we should respect each other’s thoughts and not impose ours on anyone else.
As for his experience in the TV drama “Men wanted” the actor said that it was a whole new experience for him because the drama consisted of 90 episodes and the cast members were from different parts of the Arab world who all spoke in their original accents in the drama. In addition, the storyline was about an Egyptian family living in Dubai, and the directing of the drama was new and different and the whole drama was purely based and filmed with one camera only in Dubai.  
He also believes that he doesn’t care whether he is playing a lead role or not; as he is able to give a character value regardless of how small it is. But at the same time he was worried about people’s reactions towards his character; which is a lover to a woman, as people have not seen that type of character before. However, audiences seemed to approve as the drama was a huge success.
We asked him about the meaning of the title “Men Wanted “and he explained: “there’s a type of man a woman is looking for and that is a man with a strong personality who can be depended on. However my character “Khaled Ayoub” lacks the real meaning of the ‘wanted man’ even though he possesses the physical characteristics of a typical masculine man.