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Nothing is off limits

Dubai - Setting people on fire in a nightclub is Elsheibah's mission in the third episode of 'Elsheibah' — a new spoof show which takes the mickey out of taboo subjects, including the Muslim Brotherhood's extreme ideology — and is generating many laughs as well as positive feedback.

“In Arabic, Elsheibah means ‘the old man’ and it is the name of both the main character and the series,” said Emirati filmmaker behind the series Abdalla Al Bastaki.

He began creating the short films about three months ago together with fellow Emirati filmmaker, Fadel Al Muhairi, hoping to bring to light issues that people tend to avoid talking about.

“We use comedy to talk about taboo subjects related to our society, policy making, culture, religion and economy,” explained Al Bastaki.

The series, which are broadcast on a dedicated “Elsheibah” YouTube channel, contain six comedy episodes, each five to 10 minutes long. There is no running story line connecting the series, but the main character is present in every episode and they have been edited in Arabic with English subtitles.

“Elsheibah himself is played by Fadel, who is also an actor. You would not recognise him, though. The old man disguise is not done with make up, but with prosthetics. Fadel sent his features to a company in the US that specialises in prosthetics, so he is using these moulds that make him look like an old man,” pointed out Al Bastaki.

In the first episode, the two Emirati filmmakers highlighted the trend of over zealous doctors, who give away pills “like candy”.

“If you want a mild tranquiliser you just walk into a psychiatrist office and ask for it. If you are depressed, the doctor will give you a pill, if you are stressed, you get another pill, but stress or anxiety cannot be cured with pills,” said Al Bastaki. Intellectual property is the subject of the second episode. This time around, mischievous Elsheibah is poking fun at the heavily branded fast food chain KFC. In this particular epidsode, fast food cafes a few streets away from the popular fried chicken branch are capitalising on the brand by stealing it — from the same menu, to the exact same look and logo.

“Elsheibah is probably the first Emirati YouTube channel not funded by anyone and we want to keep it this way. We pay for everything ourselves because we want to keep the films independent,” said Al Bastaki.

“What I hope to achieve with these films is some societal and cultural change. I don’t feel the lifestyle in Abu Dhabi is neither right nor wrong, but I think it is important to highlight the wrong,” he stressed. “It is a very new show, and nothing happens overnight, but so far people love it. The feedback we have received is amazing. People say the ideas are intelligent, genuine.”

The filmmakers are releasing one episode per month and the fifth one, in September, will also be screened at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival this autumn. And Al Bastaki is keeping mum about the episode: “I cannot reveal much about it, but it is to do with Musaffah, Abu Dhabi’s industrial area.”

“There is a big gap for car maintenance services here. The choices are either the dealer, which has very high costs, or the small shops, which are cheap, but employ people who know nothing about cars, who more often than not damage it. Yet, these small shops make about Dh50,000 to 60,000 a month because the car dealers are too expensive. I even saw a Rolls Royce once in one of these small maintenance shops,” said Al Bastaki.

After a couple of months break, the two filmmakers will continue the series next year and to add to his already packed schedule, Al Bastaki is also working on a feature film, which he calls “Al Khor” — The Desert Bowl.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com