Hend Rostom
Actress
Hend Rostom is an Egyptian woman pioneer of Egyptian and Arab cinema. In the interview, she shared her acting journey, during which she took part in 125 movies, played significant roles in key movies in the history of Egyptian cinema, and worked alongside exceptional directors, including Hassan al-Imam, Youssef Chahine, Fatin Abd al-Wahab, Salah Abu Seif, and Ali Badrakhan. Hend earned the Best Actress Award for her role in the movie Out of Heaven.
Hend’s upbringing was influenced by the strictness of her father’s family, and the more tolerant discipline and compassion of her mother’s family. Hend’s father was a police officer with Turkish descents. She attended the Christian French School of Saint de Paul in Alexandria, describing herself as “a very obedient student, very quiet, and loved by the school.” By the age of nine, her parents got divorced, and as per the Egyptian law at the time, Hend had to live in the care of her father. She moved to Cairo, and resided in Garden City with her father.
Hend attended the German School in Bab al-Louq for only one year, before having to transfer to the Franciscan French School because of the war. However, Hend never managed to earn her high-school diploma or complete her school education since she had to move a lot due to her father’s work conditions. These conditions ultimately necessitated that Hend resided with her father’s family, whom she described as strict and stern in the way they raised her, saying “no girl was allowed to go out alone, or even look out of the window. If there were boys standing in the balcony in front of you, you get a beating for it. This was the old way. Your grandma’s traditional upbringing.” When Hend turned fifteen, she moved to live with her mother who came to reside in Cairo. Hend recalled her mother’s extreme kindness and sincerity, and her death at a young age. Hend’s mother passed away when she was only 42, while Hend was 25 years old.
Hend got her first acting role by coincidence at the age of 15. When she went to see one of Laila Mourad’s movies at Cosmos Cinema House, there was only one ticket left for one of the cinema’s private boxes, and a girl offered to share the ticket with Hend. As the two started talking, the girl invited Hend to come along with her to one of the casting offices. Hend agreed happily thinking she would get to meet some of the movie stars over there. Instead, she met with director Mohamed Abd al-Gawad, producer Hussein Helmi al-Mohandas, and the co-director Ezz al-Din Zu al-Foqqar, who offered Hend her first role in Flowers and Thorns, after verifying she was an Egyptian national. Hend’s mother welcomed the idea, and did not object to Hend getting into the cinema business. The mother, however, did not inform Hend’s father or his family of the situation, and as soon as the movie got released, they cut Hend off. Hend’s relationship with her father’s family was restored after her marriage. As she put it, “it was not enough for them that I was Hend Rostom. I had to be somebody’s wife to be enough for them. This was the only validation for them. Other than that, no!”
Hend never comprehended her family’s rejection, or society’s objection to her field of work, saying, “I do not know why. The simplest thing, the court of law will not accept a witness statement from an actor. What does that mean? Are we clowns? I see the artist with a different eye. I see myself representing the lives in our society. I put it on screen for the simple person who never had the chance to open a book, or to know the world. I show the simple people that there are different paths in life. I explain the world we live in with its differences. I tell society stories from our lives. I show these stories to you. For me, an actor is a teacher. But back then, it was shameful to be an actor. Now, things are better, not very much so, but relatively better than it used to be.”
Hend never imagined she would become an actress and a movie super star one day. Her childhood dream was to become a doctor, but after dropping out of school, her dream was to get married and start her own family. However, she launched an acting career that spanned 30 years. Her career began with seven years of playing supporting roles, then taking up leading roles in what Hend described as a thirty-year mission, saying, “I had to be committed to a lot of things, bound to specific habits, and specific food. I had to sleep early so my face would be ready for camera. Even when I was not working, I had to eat limited quantities of food, always put on makeup, and take care of my skin. You know, I got bored of these things. This was not a normal life. You keep a certain weight like a boxer or a model. Our job is tough, very very very demanding. For example, you get asked to do a scene when you are sick, so you have to do it. In The Nun, I had a 40-degree fever, I was so sick, but I had to do the job, learn to dance the dabke, and all of that with the fever. I could not miss a day on a sick leave because every day I miss costs the production company tons of money. This was not a joke. It was a lot of money. Do you know how I got the fever? The director Hassan al-Imam asked me to do a scene in a water spring. The water was freezing. Your finger would freeze if you touched it. I had to be inside that water with Ihab for the movie. This is the scene when my character falls in the water.”
Hend also spoke of the 1952 Revolution, and its positive impact on the Egyptian cinema, and on the arts in general, adding, “it pushed the cinema forward. Abd al-Nasser, God rest his soul, gave value to the artists, undoubtedly.” Hend also recounted her charity and social activities during the wars. With Taheyya Karyokka, Hend raised donations and collected clothes. She also participated in fundraising concerts with Farid al-Atrash and Abd al-Halim Hafez.
Hend explained that her social life was impacted by her work, saying that her job was her life. She did not have the time to live a normal social or private life. She loved traveling as well, but she did not have enough time for that either. Hend recalled, “I did not get to live a good life at a good age. I did not get to do that. I lived the good life in the movie sets, at work.” Yet, she managed to build friendships within the movie industry, with Rushdie Abaza and Salah Zu al-Foqqar. When she got married, Hend was keen on sustaining the balance between her work duties and her family’s needs. She retired at the age of 45, and devoted herself entirely to her family.
Hend Rostom concluded the interview stating that she was so proud that she got the chance to work with great Egyptian directors, and to perform diverse roles throughout her acting career. She was mostly proud of having been able to depend on herself, and to rely on nobody to advance her career. What pushed her forward was her determination, tenacity, and her unwavering desire to make it despite all odds. That is why director Hassan al-Imam used to describe her as the Unbendable Hend.