Nadia Lutfi Explained

Nadia Lutfi
ناديه لطفى
Birth Name:Paula Mohamed Mostafa Shafik
پولا محمد مصطفى شفيق
Birth Date:3 January 1937
Birth Place:Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt
Death Place:Cairo, Egypt
Years Active:1958–1986
Spouse:
  • Ebrahim Sadek
  • Mohamed Sabri
  • Adel Elbeshari
Children:Ahmad Adel Elbashari
Alias:Nadia Lotfi

Nadia Lutfi or Nadia Lotfi (ناديه لطفى; born Paula Mohamed Mostafa Shafik (پولا محمد مصطفى شفيق); 3 January 1937 – 4 February 2020), was an Egyptian actress.[1] During the apex of her career, she was one of the most popular actresses of Egyptian cinema's golden age.

Early life

Nadia was born in Cairo as Paula Mohamed Mostafa Shafiq to an Egyptian family, her father, Mohamed, and her mother, Fatma Khayri who named her daughter Paula after the name of a kind beautiful nun she met in the hospital.[2] [3] The family of Nadia Lutfi was Muslim.[4]

Career

Paula began acting as a hobby; when she was 10 years old she participated in a play at her school and did very well. When the 24-year-old was about to make her screen debut in 1958, Omar Sharif was the reigning king of Egyptian cinema, and his wife, Egyptian superstar Faten Hamama, its queen. The star couple had just had a smash hit with the film La Anam with Hamama as "Nadia Lotfy", a willful teen who destroys her father's marriage. Paula adopted the forename and a variation of the surname of the character as her own.

Under her newly changed name, the young actress was spotted by director Ramses Naguib. Her first film role was in a modest, black & white drama, Soultan in 1958.[5] Her second picture was a smaller role in one of the film landmarks of its time, Cairo Station.

In 1963, she played a Frankish woman warrior of the Crusade era, donning full armor to go into battle against Isa Elawwam her Christian-Arab lover, (role was played by Egyptian Cinema's box-office mogul Salah Zulfikar), in El-Nasser Salah Ad-Din (occasionally shown on television in the United States as Saladin and the Great Crusades) (1963). In Lil-Rigal Faqat aka For Men Only (1964) by Mahmoud Zulfikar, Lutfi and co-star Soad Hosny played women geologists who, denied employment, respond by disguising themselves as men and going to work, where they find they must suppress their romantic instincts to sustain the disguise. In the mid-1960s, she starred in two films that were based on stories by Nobel-winning author Naguib Mahfouz, just a few years following the publication of his widely banned novel Awlad Haretna (اولاد حارتنا) which symbolize God and Moses, Jesus and Mohammed, Children of Gebelawi. Lutfi finished the decade starring in Abi foq al-Shagara aka My father Over The Tree (1969) as a nightclub dancer who beds a much younger man, then discovers that she once knew his father equally well. As well as El Momia aka The Night of Counting the Years (1969). She starred in several films with Soad Hosny, including Al-Saba' Banat aka The Seven Girls.[6] [7] In the 1970s, her career wound down as Egypt's "Golden Age" for films drew to a close. Her most prominent films includes Regal Bila Malameh aka Featureless Men (1972), where she played a role of a night girl, the film was a commercial hit. She also starred in El-Okhwa El-A'daa aka Enemy Brothers (1974), and Badiaa Masabni aka Badi’a Masabny (1975) by Hassan El Imam. Having made close to 50 films in the first 11 years of her career, she only made three in the decade that followed, and did not work in films since 1981.

In 2014, the Cairo International Film Festival paid tribute to Nadia Lutfi by using her photo on the Festival's official poster for its 36th edition.[5]

Death

On 4 February 2020, after being in intensive care for some time, Nadia Lutfi died in Maadi Hospital, Cairo.[8]

Selected filmography

YearTitleEgyptian Arabic Title
1958 Sultan سلطان
1959 Forever Yours حب للأبد
1961 The Sun Will Never Set لا تطفئ الشمس
1961 With Memories مع الذكريات
1961 Seven Girls السبع بنات
1961 Half Virgin نص عذراء
1961 My Only Love حبى الوحيد
1961 Giants of Seas عمالقة البحار
1962 Judge of Love قاضى الغرام
1962 Schoolgirl's Diary مذكرات تلميذه
1962 The Sins الخطايا
1962 Without an Appointment من غير ميعاد
1962 Struggle of Giants صراع العمالقه
1962 Days Without Love ايام بلا حب
1962 Come Back Mother عودى يا امى
1963 Years of Love سنوات الحب
1963 Saladin the Victorious الناصر صلاح الدين
1963 Dark Glasses النضاره السوده
1963 Marriage in Danger جواز فى خطر
1963 Bachelor's Life حياة عازب
1964 Between Two Palaces بين القصرين
1964 Unforgettable Love حب لا انساه
1964 Searcher for Love الباحثه عن الحب
1964 Girls Revolution ثورة البنات
1964 Youth, Love, and Merriment شباب و حب و مرح
1964 Leave Me with Tears دعنى و الدموع
1964 Escaper from Life هارب من الحياه
1965 The Impossible المستحيل
1965 Unfaithfulness الخاينه
1965 Private Teacher مدرس خصوصى
1965 For Men Only للرجال فقط
1966 Enemy of Woman عدو المرأه
1966 A Widow is Required مطلوب ارمله
1966 Life is Sweet الحياه حلوه
1967 Long Nights الليالى الطويله
1967 Palace of Longing قصر الشوق
1967 Crazy's Romances غراميات مجنون
1967 Crime in Calm District جريمه فى الحى الهادى
1967 When We Love عندما نحب
1967 Quails and Autumn السمان و الخريف
1967 Nasty Girl بنت شقيه
1968 How to Rob Millionaire كيف تسرق مليونير
1968 3 Stories ٣ قصص
1968 Days of Love ايام الحب
1969 Pickpocket Despite His will نشال رغم انفه
1969 Secretary of Mama سكرتير ماما
1969 My Father over the Tree ابى فوق الشجره
1969 The Night of Counting the Years الموميا
1970 They Were Days كانت ايام
1970 Kinsman الرجل المناسب
1971 Lovers of Life عشاق الحياه
1971 Gentle, Gallant and Greedyالظريف و الشهم و الطماع
1971 Confessions of a Woman اعترافات امرأه
1972 Featureless Menرجال بلا ملامح
1972 Visitor الزائره
1972 Barrier الحاجز
1972 Lights of City اضواء المدينه
1972 Wild Flowers زهور بريه
1973 Armies of the Sun جيوش الشمس
1974 Bottom of City قاع المدينه
1974 Enemies Brothers الاخوه الاعداء
1975 Who Can Overcome Azizaمين يقدر علا عزيزه
1975 On Transparent Papersعلا ورق سلوڤان
1975 Never,I'll Not Return ابدا لن اعود
1975 Badi'a Masabni بديعه مصابنى
1976 Lover of Another حبيبة غيرى
1976 Home Without affection بيت بلا حنان
1977 And She Fell in Sea of Honey و سقطت فى بحر العسل
1978 Behind the Sunورا الشمس
1978 Journey inside a Woman رحله داخل امرأه
1978 Elaqmarالاقمر
1980 Where Do You Hide the Sun? اين تخبئون الشمس؟
1982 Bloody Fates الأقدار الداميه
1986 House of Poisoned Family منزل العائله المسمومه
1988 Legitimate Father الأب الشرعى

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: ناديه لطفى . ليالينا.
  2. News: Nadia Loutfi.
  3. Web site: Famed Egyptian actress Nadia Lutfi dies at 83. 4 February 2020. Arab News.
  4. Web site: نادية لطفى: 'والدتى مصرية واسمها فاطمة وسمتنى'بولا' بسبب راهبة'. بوابة الفجر. 15 March 2018 .
  5. Web site: PHOTOS: Nadia Lutfi, an Egyptian beauty – Film – Arts & Culture – Ahram Online. english.ahram.org.eg. en. 2017-11-15.
  6. Web site: Soad Hosny filmography, Al-Ahram Weekly Online, 28 June – 4 July 2001, Issue No. 540 . 28 August 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150810185659/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2001/540/cu6.htm . 10 August 2015 . dead .
  7. https://najatalsaghira.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/soad-hosni "Soad Hosny"
  8. Web site: Egyptian Actress Nadia Lutfi Dies Aged 83. EgyptianStreets. 4 February 2020 .