Damascus-Sana
The late Syrian artist Nihad Qalei constituted a milestone in the history of Syrian drama, specifically comedy, and despite the passage of years since his death, he preserved the love of the Syrian and Arab generations with his light-hearted characters, especially Hosni Al-Burzhan.
Ahmed Nihad Qalei al-Kharboutli, who was born in Damascus in 1928, was an activist in the school theater teams. A flicker at the University of Damascus, an employee at the Ministry of Defense, then a customs broker.
Before entering the professional stage in acting, he participated in several plays presented by amateur groups and was still employed when, in 1953, he founded with a group of young theater amateurs the Eastern Band for Acting and Music, whose name became (The Oriental Club) and presented several theatrical works by Arab and international authors.
In 1959, when the Ministry of Culture was established in Syria, and Najat Kassab Hassan assumed the position of Director of Theaters and Music, he sought to establish a theater group to be the core of the work of the national theater.
The group opened its works in 1960 with two plays, the first (Braxa Jura) directed by Rafiq Al-Sabban, which is a part of the Greek theatrical comedy heritage. The second work was called (The Fakes) written by the Egyptian writer Mahmoud Taymour and directed by Nihad Qalai.
Nihad Qalai then directed the noble bourgeois play Moliere, then re-directed the price of freedom, and the young stars of the national theater at that time participated in the acting, namely Tharaa, Sanaa Debsi, Salim Sabri and others, after which Qala'i went through the experiences of theater directing besides acting.
Upon the establishment of the Syrian TV, its General Manager Sabah Qabbani suggested presenting a comedic show, which constituted a milestone for the actors who became bright stars in comedy, namely, Duraid Lahham, Nihad Qala'i, Mahmoud Jaber and director Khaldoun Al-Maleh.
The main stage in the life of Nihad Qala'i was through the artistic partnership with Duraid Lahham, where he presented a comedic show entitled (The Lulu Contract) directed by Nihad, from which a movie film of the same title directed by Youssef Maalouf was adapted, and Sabah and Fahd Ballan joined the duo in the roles of his heroism and was the first of the duo's work In the field of cinema.
The popular turnout for the film encouraged producer Nader Al-Atassi and Tahseen Al-Qadri to continue producing films starring the duo Duraid and Nihad, then producers in Syria and Lebanon flocked to contract with them, and the number of films in which they participated together reached 24 films, in which Nihad Qalai was the screenwriter or a co-writer in most of these films.
The duo showed the television audience the characters Ghawar Al-Tawsheh and Hosni Al-Burzhan in four television series that the audience in Syria and the Arab world watched with interest: (Ghawar Dumps) directed by Khaldoun Al-Maleh and written by Nihad Qalei and (Hammam Al-Hana) directed by Iraqi Faisal Al-Yasseri and (Sah Al-Nom) and ( Salt and Sugar) directed by Khaldoun Al Maleh.
And the most famous in these series are big stars: Abd al-Latif Fathi (Badri Bey) Abu Kalbaja, Rafiq al-Subaie (Abu Sayyah), Najah Hafeez (Fatoum Hais Bays), Ziad Mawlawi (Abdo), Yassin Buqosh (Yassin) and Naji Jabr (Abu Antar) and others. As a writer for television in 1984 in the series (Groom Al Hana), which he starred as Don Duraid Lahham.
As for Al-Khashaba, the Al-Shawk Theater was a platform through which Nihad returned to his first love for the father of the arts. In 1969, in the first seasons of the Damascus Theater Festival, he presented a show that included critical comedic theater scenes written by Omar Hajjo and directed by Duraid Lahham, in partnership with Rafiq Al-Subaie, Ziad Mawlawi, Ahmed Qanaa and others. The artist was Salim Sabry Technical advisor.
The Tishreen Family Theater Company was established in Damascus in 1974, and the Tishreen Village was its first production. It was written by the late writer Muhammad al-Maghout and Duraid Lahham, directed by the latter and his heroism, with him Nihad Qalai, Omar Hajjo, Malik Sukkar, Usama al-Romani, Yasser al-Azma, Sabah al-Jazaery, Shaker Brikhan and Husam Tahseen Bey, and the play achieved artistic success and witnessed a turnout. Popular in Damascus and various Syrian cities, Beirut and some Arab capitals.
The group presented its second show (Ghurba) with the same artistic crew, in terms of composition, directing and acting, but Samia Al-Jazaery replaced Malak Sugar and received the play with the same hospitality that the Tishreen Village received and during the period of the play's presentation, Nihad Qalai was exposed to an unfortunate accident that paralyzed him and changed the course of his life.
After the accident, he was treated in Czechoslovakia and returned with hemiplegia, which prevented the movement of his left arm and made his pronunciation of the letters difficult and because of that injury, the performance of the Ghraib play was stopped for days, then he assigned his role to Tayseer Al-Saadi and the film (When the Wives Are Absent) was the last of Nihad Qalai's films.
Nihad's illness severely affected his artistic activity and presence, so he was almost absent since the mid-1980s, with the exception of his participation in some radio works and writing for children, before he gradually withered away until he died in the Red Crescent Hospital in Damascus on October 17, 1993.
The biggest honor that Nihad received was after his death when his daughter Maha received the Syrian Order of Merit, first class, in March 2008, in a special ceremony hosted by Dar Al-Assad for Culture and Arts.
Miss Al-Ani and Rasha Mahfoud
