The Saudi actress and singer Rimona is preparing for her first major film appearance with Riham Abdul Ghafour and Majed Al-Kedwani. The film, produced by Jamal Qasem, is a comedy about a young Egyptian man working in the Gulf who has returned home in search of a bride.
Rimona’s beginning as an actress was playing a small part — not more than three scenes with the famous Egyptian actress, Yusra — at which she excelled.
She said: “I don’t care about the size of a role; what’s more important is its value. In this particular series, I only appeared in three scenes. I played a girl who ruined the marital relationship of the hero and heroine — Yusra and her ‘husband,’ Sami Al-Adl. It was a significant role in which I learned a lot from Yusra, things that will help me in the future. During the three scenes, I got to sing. Currently I’m working on three series: “Batta and Her Sisters,” directed by Hassan Basheir with Ghada Abdul-Razzaq as the leading actress; another is directed by Midhat Al-Sibaei with the famous actor Mahmoud Yasseen in the leading role along with the famous actress Halah Fakhry; the third one is directed by Hassan Basheir with leading parts played by the famous Ahmad Bedeir. I play a woman selling vegetables and it’s a new role that takes me away from the usual spoiled beautiful girl. All of the parts are different and I think that they are important to my knowledge and experience.”
Duets are common among rising new male and female singers. What do you think of this?
It’s a good thing if properly and carefully done. I would like to sing in a duet with Fadel Shaker, Amr Diyab, Saber Al-Rubaei and Mohammad Abdo because duets now are the language of visual singing.
Your experience as a broadcaster on Al-Mehwar Channel was important but there were some problems. What happened?
I don’t like to talk much about this. I started out to do the program “On the Air” which was a variety program that had been successful. Unfortunately, the program began to have both financial and administrative problems and I decided to leave.
Is there a prospective program in mind?
Yes, there is one for satellite TV. Once it’s been done, I’ll announce it.
What about the alleged disagreement between you and the famous singer, Asalah?
There has never been any disagreement between us, especially since we’ve never met. What happened was that I saw her on a satellite TV program in which she described the singers of the new generation as all psychologically deranged. And the truth is, we’re not. Then again who appointed Asalah to judge others’ performances. She’s not a critic who has the qualifications to evaluate others. I think she’s the one suffering from problems; this is evident when we see that she is always having disagreements with other female singers — Ahlam, Alissa and Mayadah Al-Henawi. She’s also caused problems for Nancy Ajram — another famous singer — at the Dubai Festival. I’m against Asalah’s attacking other singers. She should focus on her singing only.
Do you live permanently in Egypt?
My family and I move between Cairo, Dubai, Paris and Riyadh.
