Hind Rustom is an icon of elegance and sophistication. Admired by men, she was at once envied and copied by women. But the star is much more than just a pretty face. Insight meets the woman behind the sex symbol.
Crossing the doorstep into Hind Rostom's apartment is as close as one can come to stepping back in time. You can feel that this Grande Dame of Egyptian cinema has done her best to preserve what she could of the time when she lived like a queen.
Faro cheap hotels A butler greets her guests and leads them into the perfectly coordinated salon. The antique furniture is beautifully complimented by the vibrant colours of the carpets. Pictures of her daughter and grandchild cover the surfaces of the several tables around the room, reflecting her great love for both of them. A recent photograph of her is blown up and hung on one of the walls, vying for my attention, with several other black and white pictures scattered around the room, mixed in with pictures of her and other actors from a time long gone. My eyes constantly drifting back to the recent colour photograph to try, as much as possible, to prepare myself for the person, the legend I was about to meet.
Minutes later, an elderly lady walked in with a gracious smile and greeted me warmly. It was Hind Rostom, I didn’t need anyone to point her out to me. Her face hadn’t changed much, just a few wrinkles here and there but there was no doubt this was the Egyptian Marilyn Monroe.
With the same husky voice that filled the hearts of her legions of fans and her unforgettable smile, Hind began to reveal the person behind the woman many have called the sex symbol of Egyptian cinema. Hind Hussein Rostom explained: "It was pure coincidence. I was going to Cosmos movie theatre where a film with Leila Mourad was playing, but it was too crowded and I ended up having to share a benoire with a girl about my age (Hind was 15 at the time)." Following the movie, the two girls became acquainted with each other. The girl told Hind of a screen test she was going to; being a movie lover, Hind tagged along. At the screen test, producer Hussein Helmy El Mohandes spotted Hind among the celebrity hopefuls: "He turned to me and asked me if I could speak Arabic; I told him I was Egyptian. Then he announced that I am the one!"
Hotelzimmer Sorrento Although both she and her mother were excited about the event, her strict father bore a different sentiment. Hind decided not to let her father’s disapproval of show business stop her from this chance of a lifetime. However, as a consequence of that resolve, "My father and his family didn’t talk to me throughout my career until I married my second and current husband, Dr. Mohamed Fayad," she said.
Part of her father’s strictness no doubt arose as a result of his profession, Hind’s father was a policeman: "I used to love seeing him go out in his uniform," Hind said. "He was very good looking. The people used to say he looked like a movie star." However, despite the blow, Hind says she doesn’t harbour any ill feelings for her father’s reaction to her career choice. "I understand why he was so firm," she said. "I implemented the same method with (her daughter) Passant. Even though I didn’t like the way I was brought up, it proved to do me well."
Despite her glamourous image, Hind described herself as quite an introvert, "I closed the door on the outside world and didn’t have many contacts. But this was a mistake, these contacts could have made my life much simpler", she explained. By way of example she notes "I didn’t have a single friend in the media because I wanted them to write their honest opinion of me."
Ever the recluse, she has kept in touch with very few people from her days in the movie business, and sees those rare friends only on special occasions. "At times when I was supposed to be friends with them I was too busy working on several movies and had no time for socialising. Some might have seen it as snobbish but it wasn’t, I was trying to make my way to the top."
Nevertheless, Hind talks about how actors gather to help their fellow colleagues in times of need, regardless of age or generation. "When I was sick I got a lot of visits and everyone called to ask about me. This is one of the things I really love about the world of cinema." Hind underwent heart surgery a few years back but has now completely recovered and is planning her next trip to Paris.
Her tomboyish nature was always what pulled her into friendships with actors rather than actresses. "We were a great group, Roushdy Abaza, Omar El Sherif, Salah Zoul Fakar and myself. If the four of us could get together somewhere, that would be the ultimate," she exclaimed with a nostalgic sparkle in her eye. When asked about Roushdy Abaza she describes a prince, an aristocratic Lord and a typical Egyptian everyday man ‘Ibn Balad’. "I miss everything in Roushdy, his soul, his character. May God rest his soul."
Most of all, she continued, Roushdy understood the importance of appearances. "Roushdy Abaza used to pay a lot of attention to what he wore when he was working on a movie with me. It was well-known that I was willing to pay more for my clothes than what I was paid for the film," explained Hind as she sat, looking still very elegant. In one of her movies, ‘Rod Qalby’ (Return My Heart ), Hind wore a night gown and robe that became a sensation. "My tailor told me that brides requested the very same nightgown and robe from him for a full year afterward", said Hind with pride.
Not only did Hind pay close attention to her clothes, but she also watched her weight, perhaps too closely for her own taste. "I have a scale in my bedroom until today to make sure I see it at all times. If I gain weight I get depressed and stay in my house until I lose it," she said. This obsession over her weight was one of the reasons Hind decided to say goodbye to life in the movies. "One of the reasons I left the cinema was because of my constant dieting and because I never had a chance to enjoy my youth. I was always following the hectic schedule of the cinema."
She made the difficult decision to leave her life of glamour and celebrity at a relatively young age, she remembered. "I left while I was still at the top. I was only 45 and could have continued but I preferred to leave while still a star rather than having people tell me ‘we’ve had enough of you’".
"I miss the plateau and the people working on the set. These are the ones that hold the spotlight to make you whoever you are," said Hind. When she first quit many people tried to pull her back into the business, "but I had already made a decision and there was no turning back," she affirmed with a note of pride.
Quitting the movies gave Hind the time and freedom to enjoy the place she loved and missed most, her home. "I love my home and sometimes I can stay up to three months without going out at all," says Hind, but the main reason she rarely leaves the house these days is because of how much the world has changed. "Nothing is like what it used to be. One time I went out to dinner with my husband and didn’t know if I was overdressed or if everyone else was underdressed. I am used to dressing up for dinner, but it seems they don’t do that any more. There is no longer the atmosphere that attracts you to go out".
She feels the same way about today’s movie industry. Hind complains it is lacking in many regards, most notably that there is no older generation to pass on its wisdom. "They are all of the same generation. I used to learn a lot from those who preceded me. It really helped my career". We are a far cry from the era of Hind Rostom, a time of glamour and sophistication where everything was done to perfection.
Perhaps Rostom's enduring legend is due most of all to the high standards she set for herself. The introspective starlet names herself her own harshest critic. She noted, when watching her own films, "I become very nervous and sometimes tell myself ‘you’ve done a bad job here’ and sometimes I say ‘bravo, Hind you did really well.’
