Beirut - Suhaila Kayali
A third season of the "Sahar El Leil" drama series called "Watan El Nahar” forms part of the Ramadan offerings of Lebanon's MBC channel. The plot and script are written by Fahd Elilewah, the directer is Mohammed Daham al-Shammari, and stars Jasem al-Nabhan, Basma Hamada, Mohammed Boshahry, Abdullah Boshahry, Haya Abdel Salam, Nour and others. As we have become accustomed from the “Saher El Leil” series of the previous two Ramadan seasons, “Watan El Nahar” is a love story told against the backdrop of the invasion of Kuwait, as well as a number of other dramatic themes which include humanitarian images that reflect the privacy of the Gulf community and what distinguishes it through brotherhood, unity and the cohesion of its citizens. In addition, the drama conveys a message that concludes with an analogy that the colour red can refer to love as well as blood. Director Mohammed Daham al- Shammari confirms that “Watan El Nahar” is a love story like the previous two segments, but introduces a new barrier which prevents the couple from meeting. Al-Shammari explains: “In the first season, the barrier was related to social traditions and the second season was related to money. The third season is about a love story which was prevented from continuing because of the invasion of Kuwait that led to refugees and tragedies”. Al-Shammari explained that when the work speaks about Kuwait’s invasion" it is not about Iraq and Iraqis but about Saddam and his military and the invasion which lead to separation". He explained that Kuwaitis and Iraqis are" two tolerant societies and they come together after all these bloody events." Speaking about the overlap between the political and dramatic lines in the story, he said: “I know from Fahd Elilewah's writing that we should not deal with the topic from a totally political perspective, but weave in the social issues relating to the invasion and deal with it in a more abstract way. We introduced what resulted in the negative effects of the invasion as they related to Saddam’s problems. About the title of the third season of “Saher El Leil”, al Shammari said “Watan El Nahar” desscribes the optimism and hard work which helped to rebuild Kuwait after these events. The title of the series was taken from singer Abdel Karim Abdel Kader’s song which was released on the first day of the liberation of Kuwait. "It affected Kuwaitis very much, so we decided to use the title of the song, hence “Watan El Nahar”.