DUBAI: No Saudi performer has had a more momentous year than Ibrahim Al-Hajjaj. With his starring role in the record-shattering film “Sattar,” the actor and comedian cemented himself as the Kingdom’s biggest box office draw. He followed that up earlier this month by making his UK comedy debut at the famed Edinburgh Fringe Festival, selling out five shows. Now, with “Sattar” set for global release on Netflix on August 24, he’s taking his signature brand of comedy to new heights across the globe.
“Comedy is a global language,” Al-Hajjaj tells Arab News. “We all love to laugh. Anyone on earth who attends my shows or watches ‘Sattar’ with an open heart will find that we all have so much in common. Sharing a laugh together is what can unite us all, I think, and it’s gone beautifully so far.”
‘Sattar’ is not merely the biggest Saudi film in history, more broadly, the pro-wrestling comedy is a watershed moment in the growth of the country’s burgeoning film industry. (Supplied)
It’s hard to overstate the level of success that Al-Hajjaj, who also starred this year in MBC’s Ramadan hit “Minho Waladna” and Netflix’s “Khallat+,” is enjoying. “Sattar” is not merely the biggest Saudi film in history, more broadly, the pro-wrestling comedy is a watershed moment in the growth of the country’s burgeoning film industry, marking the exact point at which Saudi audiences stopped prioritizing international fare and turned homegrown films into blockbusters.
“In my view, this is what we should be aiming for,” Al-Hajjaj says. “Art is for the people. It’s alright to have a couple of festival films, but you cannot call yourself a true artist if you’ve not been rated by the people. We’re never going to grow by being insular and just giving each other awards — art should be for everyone, and wide embrace is the true mark of success.”
While the film was made with a broad audience in mind, with Al-Hajjaj and his collaborators — including actor Abdulaziz Alshehri and writer, producer and co-star Ibrahim Al-Khairallah — building upon the sensibilities they’d first developed on YouTube and on stage, no one could have predicted how big things would get. As the theatrical release gained steam, something awakened in people, a reaction that both humbled and emboldened Al-Hajjaj.
“I was not expecting this much, honestly. It made my heart melt to see the number of people in long lines to see the film for months on end. The most touching moment came for me when a father approached me along with his wife and kids to thank me for making something that they all enjoyed together. I honestly was about to tear up — it was so heartwarming. It made me want to jump into the next project. I just want to bring people joy,” says Al-Hajjaj.
The reaction he got at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the largest performing arts festival in the world, was equally as inspiring. The yearly event hosts some 60,000 different performances across the month of August, with hits launching many a career, and flops often ending them. To his surprise, the audience was full not just of Arabs, but of people from across the world, all of whom couldn’t get enough of the seasoned performer.
Funnily enough, this was never his dream growing up. While he always made his family laugh, his first love was music; he spent years practicing to become Saudi’s first rock star. It wasn’t until he was in university that he changed paths, after a traumatic moment forced him to find a new outlet for his creative impulses.
“One of my closest friends passed, and I just wanted to stay away from music for a while. We had always played together, and without him I just needed to run away from it all. I signed up for acting courses at Ithra in Khobar — near where I’m from, because I needed to try something new to heal myself. I didn’t know how quickly I would take to it, but God has a plan for us all,” says Al-Hajjaj.
“It was miraculous — I was stunned at how much better I felt almost instantly. Those classes didn’t just make me a better actor, they made me a better person. They taught me how to commit, how to be aware of everything around me. They showed me how giving 100 percent to something pays dividends if you do it right. I felt like I’d evolved right there on that stage like a Pokémon,” Al-Hajjaj continues.
After taking every course they had on offer in 2014, he was able to travel to the UAE the following year to take part in an exclusive masterclass with two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, an experience in which he reined in his larger-than-life personality to listen to one of acting’s true greats.
“The best advice he gave me is that, in this world we work in, talent alone will not help you survive. In fact, it’s probably lowest on the list. You’ve got to have good luck, good connections, and well-developed skills, and if you don’t have those three things, you’re never going to make it. I’ll never forget when he told me that, and it has fueled me ever since,” says Al-Hajjaj.
Soon after, he started trying his hand at stand-up comedy, holding several private shows in 2015 before trying out his act at a Saudi comedy club in 2016. He took to it like a fish to water, founding his own comedy club in 2018 called House of Comedy, where he’s held more than 250 shows of his own.
“I started off just telling my favorite childhood stories, my adventures from middle school, which everyone identified with because we’ve all been there. With time, though, I started becoming more observational in style, which people everywhere have really responded to,” he says.
Ibrahim Al-Hajjaj in the 2023 Ramadan series ‘Minho Waladna.’ (Supplied)
At each turn, Al-Hajjaj has been anxious to push himself further, barreling into the next big move at full speed and succeeding in a way that might have seemed impossible had he stopped to think about it. But he’s reached a different point, where he can no longer clock things up to luck, or marvel in surprise at how high his star has risen. Now, he has the opportunity to take all he’s built and do something bigger — but what does he want that next step to be?
“I’m really looking forward to what’s next. I’m about to start touring Saudi in a (satirical) play in which I star as a man who’s created an AI influencer, much to the annoyance of the other top influencers around Saudi. It’s really funny stuff, and I just love doing theatre — I love that instant reaction and bond you can create with an audience,” says Al-Hajjaj.
“But for my next step in film, I want to try something different. I want to do something that screams real and raw, that captures all the small details in our lives,” he continues. “To be honest, I don’t want to say much yet, but I want to do a rom-com — but one that doesn’t feel like the cookie-cutter style that we’re so used to seeing; I want it to feel like actual romance really does these days — what actual people are going through. I think people want something new just as much as I do.”
