''I Love This, I Want That'' ( ar, هذا أحبه وهذا أريده) is an

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

romantic drama musical film released on July 14, 1975. It was directed by

Hassan al-Imam Hassan al-Imam ( ar, حسن الإمام; March 6, 1919 in Mansoura, Egypt – January 29, 1988) was a prominent Egyptian film director. He was nicknamed the Box-office King, made three films listed in the Top 100 Egyptian films list. Early lif ...

, features a story by

Ihsan Abdel Quddous Ihsan Abdel Quddous ( arz, إحسان عبد القدوس ', ) (1 January 1919 – 12 January 1990) was an Egyptian writer, novelist, and journalist and editor in Egypt's '' Al Akhbar'' and '' Al-Ahram'' newspapers. He wrote many novels tha ...

and additional scripting by al-Imam, Murad Ramses Naguib, and lyricist-poet

Morsi Gameel Aziz Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012 Hany Shaker Hany Shaker ( ar, هانى شاكر, ; born December 21, 1952) is an Egyptian singer, actor and composer. His first public appearance was when he sang with Abd El Halim Hafez Choral Group in "Sora", then he played in the movie Sayed Darwish as t ...

, Noura Qadry, and Hamdi Hafith. In the film, somewhat resembling the plot of

Cyrano de Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist. A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...

, Ahmed and Ashraf both love Salwa, but Ashraf communicates only through love letters which Ahmed calls her and claims to have written.

Cast

Hany Shaker Hany Shaker ( ar, هانى شاكر, ; born December 21, 1952) is an Egyptian singer, actor and composer. His first public appearance was when he sang with Abd El Halim Hafez Choral Group in "Sora", then he played in the movie Sayed Darwish as t ...

(Ahmed, a famous young singer) * Noura Qadry (Salwa, a dancer and singer in a performing troupe) * Hamdi Hafith (Ashraf, Ahmed’s friend) *

Saeed Saleh Saeed Saleh also credited as ''Sa'eed Saleh Ibrahim''; ( ar, سعيد صالح إبراهيم) (July 31, 1940 – August 1, 2014) was an Egyptian comedian actor. Biography Saleh earned his bachelor of arts degree from Cairo University in 196 ...

(Kamal, an advice columnist) * Eglal Zaki (Zizi, Salwa’s friend) * Moshira Ismail (Noha Mahmoud, Salwa’s friend) * Leila Saboundji (Salwa’s mother) * Sabri Abdel Aziz (Ashraf’s father) *

Younes Shalaby Jonah or Jonas, ''Yōnā'', "dove"; gr, Ἰωνᾶς ''Iōnâs''; ar, يونس ' or '; Latin: ''Ionas'' son of Amittai, is a prophet in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran, from Gath-hepher of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th cent ...

* Hoda Abdel Wahab * Amira Fouad * Khaled Amin Hassanein (child)

Synopsis

A young singer named Ahmed (

) discovers that his friend Ashraf ( Hamdi Hafith) has fallen in love with a beautiful young woman named Salwa Murad ( Noura Qadry). Ashraf hasn’t spoken to her but has sent her 28 sincere love letters. Ahmed advises Ashraf to just call her but he refuses, as Salwa has fallen in love with the mysterious author. Ahmed goes to an advice columnist friend of his named Kamal (

) for advice, to which Kamal assures him Ashraf should talk to her. Ahmed pays Ashraf’s phone bill to call her, but Ashraf is traumatized by his mother’s divorce from his father ( Sabri Abdel Aziz) by phone and refuses to speak. Ahmed has a friend his age call Salwa while Ashraf listens in. Salwa and her friend Noha ( Moshira Ismail) take a technology test and recognize the proctor as the caller. Ahmed calls her again and they forge a real-life bond. When the three meet and the truth is revealed, Ahmed proposes to Salwa. They marry, but Ashraf continues sending letters to Salwa, which Salwa finds innocuous contrary to an infuriated Ahmed. She considers the relationship in the letters as spiritual and tells Ahmed “it should be secret, like prayer.” Ahmed asks her to tear them up and does it himself when she refuses, slaps her, and goes to Ashraq’s house to find him drawing a portrait of her. Ashraf tells Ahmed Salwa has two husband’s one in flesh and blood and the other in spirit, leading Ahmed to angrily threaten divorce. Ashraf turns to Kamal, who tells him that loving someone body but not soul or vice versa is unnatural and has Ashraf call her to say he will not stand in the way of her relationship with Ahmed.

Songs

Production

According to a recollection published by the culture website ''Diwan al-Arab'', lyricist Mohamed Hamza recalled the following:

While ''I Love This, I Want That'', co-starring
Hany Shaker Hany Shaker ( ar, هانى شاكر, ; born December 21, 1952) is an Egyptian singer, actor and composer. His first public appearance was when he sang with Abd El Halim Hafez Choral Group in "Sora", then he played in the movie Sayed Darwish as t ...
and Noura Qadry, was in production, producer Murad Ramses Naguib asked me to write lyrics to
Elias Rahbani Elias Hanna Al Rahbani ( ar, إلياس حنا الرحباني; 26 June 1938 – 4 January 2021) was a Lebanese musician, composer, songwriter, orchestra conductor, and reality television personality, sitting as judge on a number of talent sho ...
’s tune. At the time, an arts magazine had published an interview with
Hany Shaker Hany Shaker ( ar, هانى شاكر, ; born December 21, 1952) is an Egyptian singer, actor and composer. His first public appearance was when he sang with Abd El Halim Hafez Choral Group in "Sora", then he played in the movie Sayed Darwish as t ...
in which he had insulted amza’s friend
Abdel Halim Hafez Abdel Halim Ali Shabana ( ar, عبد الحليم علي شبانة), commonly known as Abdel Halim Hafez ( ar, عبد الحليم حافظ,) (June 21, 1929 – March 30, 1977), was an Egyptian singer, actor, conductor, businessman, music teach ...
, leading me to apologize to Hafez for writing it. To my surprise, he told me to enjoy the chance to meet Rahbani. While the song was being recorded, I asked Shaker “Why did you attack your fan?” Shaker denied having said the snide remarks and contacted Hafez to clarify the misquote, earning an invitation by a relieved Hafez to dinner at the latter’s house.

An article in the Moroccan newspaper ''

Assahifa Al Ousbouia ''Assahifa Al Ousbouia'' (English: ''The Weekly Paper'') is an Arabic language weekly newspaper in Morocco. History and profile ''Assahifa Al Ousbouia'' was founded in 1998. The newspaper is a sister publication of ''Le Journal Hebdomadaire ''L ...

'' similarly recounts that:

As Hany Shaker’s star rose as a singer, rumors spread of a rivalry as Shaker sought to usurp Abdel Halim Hafez’s perch as the king of Arab popular song. He soon put the kibosh on this, saying “All that was published on my tongue is a falsehood concocted by the press to gain fame at the expense of my friendship with the great singing star Abdel Halim Hafez.” Shaker was convinced that he was a singing star rather than a movie star after his turn in 966_biographical_film_about_the_titular_
966_biographical_film_about_the_titular_Sayed_Darwish">Sayed_Darwish.html"_;"title="966_biographical_film_about_the_titular_Sayed_Darwish">966_biographical_film_about_the_titular_Sayed_Darwish''Sayed_Darwish_(film).html" "title="Sayed_Darwish.html" ;"title="Sayed_Darwish.html" ;"title="966 biographical film about the titular Sayed Darwish">966 biographical film about the titular Sayed Darwish">Sayed_Darwish.html" ;"title="966 biographical film about the titular Sayed Darwish">966 biographical film about the titular Sayed Darwish''Sayed Darwish (film)">Sayed Darwish Sayed Darwish ( ar, سيد درويش, ; 17 March 1892 – 15 September 1923) was an Egyptian singer and composer who was considered the father of Egyptian popular music and one of Egypt's greatest musicians and seen by some as its single gr ...
''. Fate had other plans, including a starring role in ''I Love This, I Want That'', which co-starred Noura Qadry and led to rumors of an off-screen romance. The love rumors went the way of the hate ones as he was revealed to be engaged to a decided non-actress women named Nahla Tawfik, with whom he has a son and daughter.

Reception

The news site ''Akhbarak'' conveyed an assessment of the film’s legacy as follows:

All Murad Ramses Naguib’s efforts to pair
Abdel Halim Hafez Abdel Halim Ali Shabana ( ar, عبد الحليم علي شبانة), commonly known as Abdel Halim Hafez ( ar, عبد الحليم حافظ,) (June 21, 1929 – March 30, 1977), was an Egyptian singer, actor, conductor, businessman, music teach ...
and Soad Hosny on film in the years preceding 1975 had failed, so for the first time he presented Noura Qadry and
Hany Shaker Hany Shaker ( ar, هانى شاكر, ; born December 21, 1952) is an Egyptian singer, actor and composer. His first public appearance was when he sang with Abd El Halim Hafez Choral Group in "Sora", then he played in the movie Sayed Darwish as t ...
together and assigned popular director
Hassan al-Imam Hassan al-Imam ( ar, حسن الإمام; March 6, 1919 in Mansoura, Egypt – January 29, 1988) was a prominent Egyptian film director. He was nicknamed the Box-office King, made three films listed in the Top 100 Egyptian films list. Early lif ...
to the film. Although al-Imam left due to production problems, Ramses Naguib was pleased with the results so far and stepped into the director’s chair himself, an unprecedented development in
Egyptian cinema The cinema of Egypt refers to the flourishing film industry based in Cairo, sometimes also referred to as Hollywood on the Nile. Since 1976, the capital has held the annual Cairo International Film Festival, which has been accredited by the Intern ...
. The film’s success was dwarfed by that of Qadry herself, who was nicknamed her first name Noura and became an
It girl An "it girl" is an attractive young woman, who is perceived to have both sex appeal and a personality that is especially engaging. The expression ''it girl'' originated in British upper-class society around the turn of the 20th century. ...
of Arab media, named Miss Egyptian Cinema by Lebanese media magazine Al-Mawed from 1986 to 1991.

According to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

newspaper '' Al-Quds Al-Arabi'':

Hany Shaker was unlucky on the silver screen, partly due to the decline of the musical films that proliferated in the mid-20th century n Egypt In 1975, however, he starred in the film ''I Love This, I Want That'', together with Noura Qadry. The script and dialogue were written by the late, prolific poet
Morsi Gameel Aziz Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012 Hassan al-Imam Hassan al-Imam ( ar, حسن الإمام; March 6, 1919 in Mansoura, Egypt – January 29, 1988) was a prominent Egyptian film director. He was nicknamed the Box-office King, made three films listed in the Top 100 Egyptian films list. Early lif ...
and the music of
Elias Rahbani Elias Hanna Al Rahbani ( ar, إلياس حنا الرحباني; 26 June 1938 – 4 January 2021) was a Lebanese musician, composer, songwriter, orchestra conductor, and reality television personality, sitting as judge on a number of talent sho ...
.

References

{{reflist Egyptian romance films 1975 films Films directed by Hassan al-Imam

Cast

Synopsis

Songs

Production

Reception

External links