Adil Hussain on how Ali El Arabi's kickboxing shapes his filmmaking
Synopsis
Egypt's national kickboxing champion turned filmmaker Ali El Arabi brings a fighter's instinct to the set of '52 Blue' — building stories from a single conceived fragment and improvising in real time. Actor Adil Hussain says it is the rarest quality he has seen in any director he has worked with.
Key Takeaways
Actor Adil Hussain praised director Ali El Arabi for his improvisational filmmaking style rooted in competitive kickboxing.
Ali El Arabi has won Egypt's national kickboxing championship .
El Arabi's method involves conceiving a small story fragment first, shooting it, then building the full narrative — continuously improvising throughout.
Hussain described this on-set adaptability as 'a very rare quality' among directors he has worked with.
The film '52 Blue' is set to screen at the upcoming London Indian Film Festival .
Actor Adil Hussain has praised Ali El Arabi, the Egyptian director of his upcoming film '52 Blue', drawing a vivid connection between El Arabi's combat sport background and his distinctive approach to cinema. The film is set to be screened at the London Indian Film Festival.
The Kickboxing Connection
Ali El Arabi is not just a filmmaker — he is a competitive kickboxer who has won Egypt's national kickboxing championship. According to Hussain, this discipline has shaped El Arabi's entire creative methodology in ways that set him apart from most directors.
How Combat Instincts Translate to the Set
Hussain described El Arabi's process as one of continuous, in-the-moment improvisation — a trait he directly links to kickboxing. 'His continuous improvisation of how to tell the story started by first thinking of a tiny part of the story. He just conceived then he shot that first. And then he built up the whole story. So he's continuously improvising. In kickboxing, you have to continuously improvise. You are in the moment, and you are assessing, reading, and taking action. Without being present in the moment, you can't do that,' Hussain said.
The actor elaborated further: 'It compels you to be in the moment, not in your intellectually thinking mind. You're not taking a strategic decision by thinking about it. You are seeing it, taking the decision, enacting the decision, and facing the consequence, and enacting another decision you're taking. So that always becomes a sort of your mode of conduct, mode of functioning, which I have experienced while working with him.'
A Rare Quality Among Directors
Hussain was particularly struck by El Arabi's calm, solution-first attitude when problems arose on set. 'Any problem arises in the set, he would improvise, and would go like, "Okay, if this is not happening, we can do this. If it's not happening, we can do this." So that is a very rare quality amongst any director that I have done work with,' he added.
Notably, this reactive, present-tense mode of working — building a narrative from a single conceived fragment and expanding outward — mirrors the adaptive strategy that competitive fighters rely on in the ring. For El Arabi, the two disciplines appear to feed each other.
'52 Blue' at the London Indian Film Festival
The film '52 Blue' is among the titles selected for the upcoming edition of the London Indian Film Festival, one of the most prominent showcases for South Asian cinema in the United Kingdom. The festival selection marks a significant international platform for both Hussain and El Arabi's collaboration. With the screening approaching, Hussain's remarks offer a rare behind-the-scenes window into the film's unconventional creative process.
Point of View
Real-time improvisation, consequence-response decision loops — is essentially a fighter's rhythm applied to a film set. Most mainstream coverage will treat this as a colour piece, but the deeper question is whether this approach produced a structurally distinctive film, and whether '52 Blue's London Indian Film Festival selection validates it. If it does, it raises an interesting challenge to the conventional, pre-planned auteur model dominant in Indian and Egyptian cinema alike.
NationPress
30 Jun 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Ali El Arabi?
Ali El Arabi is an Egyptian film director who is also a competitive kickboxer and winner of Egypt's national kickboxing championship. He directed the film '52 Blue', which stars Indian actor Adil Hussain and is selected for the London Indian Film Festival.
What is '52 Blue' and where is it being screened?
'52 Blue' is a film directed by Ali El Arabi and starring Adil Hussain. It is set to be screened at the upcoming edition of the London Indian Film Festival, one of the leading platforms for South Asian cinema in the United Kingdom.
How does kickboxing influence Ali El Arabi's filmmaking?
According to Adil Hussain, El Arabi's kickboxing background instils a habit of continuous in-the-moment improvisation. He builds his films from a single conceived story fragment and adapts in real time on set, much like a fighter reads and responds to an opponent mid-bout.
What did Adil Hussain say about working with Ali El Arabi?
Hussain described El Arabi's on-set problem-solving as 'a very rare quality' among directors. He noted that whenever a challenge arose, El Arabi would immediately pivot to alternatives rather than stalling — a direct reflection of his combat sport training.
