The audience received the promotional image of the series “Under Guardianship”, which will be shown in Ramadan 2023, with a state of controversy, especially since the heroine of the work, Mona Zaki, appears wearing a hijab, with a pale face devoid of cosmetics, and heavy eyebrows.
Some put forward imaginary scenarios for the events of the series, expecting that the events would begin with the character of Mona Zaki, the simple veiled woman oppressed under the tutelage of religion and society, and while the heroine of the work suffers - according to the audience's expectations - from societal pressures, which she may get rid of after her liberation from the veil.
While others emphasized that the story of the series "Under Guardianship" is completely far from these scenarios, but rather deals with women's problems with the Hasbi Council - the government agency entrusted with the guardianship of minor children - after the death of her husband.
Followers on social media expected Mona Zaki to raise controversy this year, similar to the case raised by Nelly Karim last year through the series “Faten Amal Harbi”, as she appeared through the character “Faten”, the simple woman who wears the veil and is subjected to pressure and abuse for her and her two children. By her ex-husband, society, the judiciary and some religious scholars.
Although the series “Faten Amal Harbi” dealt with a very important issue about the suffering of divorced women and judicial disputes related to family law, its author, journalist Ibrahim Issa, tried to mix all controversial issues in law and religion in one container since the first episodes, stressing that women are exposed to rivers and violence from Religious scholars accepted if she tried to argue with them about her rights. From time to time, Faten repeated, “I am the one who takes everything from me,” “I am a woman and he is a man,” and “If I testify in court, they will not take my testimony.” They consider it a text (half) of a “testimony,” “This is an unjust law that must be changed.”
Here came the shortcomings of the writer's script, from being too direct in dealing with important issues to directing sharp criticism of the constants of religion, so that some considered the series as a dramatic picture of Issa's usual episodes and writings.
Mona Zaki's legacy
Mona Zaki was attacked again, after her last cinematic appearance in the movie “The Friends and the Dearest”, which was accompanied by widespread criticism on the “Netflix” platform due to a scene of its heroine and some of the events of the work story.
However, this is not the first time that Mona Zaki appears wearing the hijab, as her first appearance as a veiled woman was in the movie “Sahr al-Layali”, in which she presented the character of the young wife who is betrayed by her husband several times, and the veil was not referred to in any negative or negative way. Positive, but it was part of the heroine's personality and clothes.
While "Mona Zaki" appeared in the series "Newton's Game" two years ago, with the veil, as she wore the veil after her second marriage to a rich and bearded Egyptian immigrant. To a religiously observant family.
The authors of the work
Some bet on the two brothers Khaled and Sherine Diab - the authors of the work - in presenting a moderate image of the veiled Egyptian woman, especially since their previous works together or each of them separately did not include issues offensive to veiled women, such as the movie "Industrial Divorce", the movie "Decor", and the part The drama program "Steps of the Devil" by the preacher Moez Masoud, the series "Taya", the series "Al-Seham Al-Marqa", the films "Bulbul Hiran", "Asal Aswad" and "Bara Al-Manhaj".
The series “Under the Guardianship” consists of 15 episodes, and it is written by Khaled and Sherine Diab, directed by Muhammad Shaker Khudair, and starring Mona Zaki, Diab, Nisreen Amin, Rushdi Al-Shami, Ali Al-Tayeb, Maha Nassar, Khaled Kamal, and Muhammad Abdel-Azim.