| Bashtery Ragel | |
| Starring: | Nelly Karim |
| Country: | Egypt |
| Language: | Arabic |
Bashtery Ragel (Arabic: بشتري راجل; "Buying a Man") is a 2017 Egyptian romantic comedy film, starring Nelly Karim.
Karim's character tries to conceive of a child through asking a man to do so via Facebook. Inas Lofty was the screenwriter.[1]
The main character, Shams, runs a business. She decides to ask a man to give her a sperm donation, and to make it halal she proposes a marriage, though it is only done for the purpose of the sperm donation. Her mother is concerned about the marriage's motive being only for a business reason, but Shams becomes genuinely attracted to him, and he does with his wife. Ultimately they instead have a traditionally conceived child. France 24 stated that this is "perhaps the only ending that could make the film a success with Egyptian audiences".[1]
According to the screenwriter, the film was modeled after a friend who wanted to be a single mother as she wanted companionship but was uninterested in being married to a man, as she had not found good romantic relationships.[1]
The film development team used a Facebook page purportedly of a woman asking for a sperm donation as a marketing ploy.[2]
Lofty decided to use the romantic comedy genre to make the Egyptian public more amenable to the film's subject matter.[1]