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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014 39

Indian Hindu devotees drenched in water and smeared with colors take part in ‘Huranga’ during Holi celebrations, the Hindu festival of colors at the Baldev Temple in Dauji, 180 kilometers (113 miles) south of New Delhi, India, yester- day. The Baldev Temple is known for a ritual where the women playfully hit men with whips made of cloth as men throw buckets of water mixed with orange dye. — AP ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ lands in the Emirates he American soap opera “The Bold and take part in last weekend’s Abu Dhabi the Beautiful” is taking the show on the International Triathlon. “I said ‘we’re going to Troad again, this time all the way to the load up the station wagon, get all the guys money-soaked shores of the Arabian Peninsula. together and we’re going to shoot there.’ Cast members including Katherine Kelly Lang Because it’s something I’ve always wanted to and Don Diamont began filming scenes do,” Bell said. Cast members are shooting parts Monday overlooking Dubai’s skyscraper-stud- of nine episodes during just three days of film- ded skyline. Among the sights they’re taking in ing in the Emirates, he said. are the city’s main man-made palm-shaped island and the world’s tallest building, the Burj International following A woman takes care of a girl’s hair as others watch, on February 8, 2014, in Abidjan, during a gathering of the Khalifa. In the show, Spencer takes Lang’s character, ‘Nappy de Babi’ group which promotes natural frizzy hair. — AFP photos The crew of the show, which celebrates its , to the Emirates to get married. 27th anniversary on air next week, will contin- While the crew is reluctant to divulge too many ue filming down the coast in the United Arab details, things could go awry because her on- Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi. Some scenes and-off-again lover , played by Return to African (hair) there are being shot at the Emirates Palace , is also in town for filming. Lang’s hotel, an opulent beachfront complex that is character has been married so many times on arguably the city’s swankiest place to sleep. It’s the show that even she can’t remember. “I don’t roots in Ivory Coast a popular stopover spot for visiting royalty and count anymore,” she said. heads of state as well as deep-pocketed “The Bold and the Beautiful” has a wide emember the afro, the natural hairstyle forever syn- “People are uncomfortable about it. When they see you tourists stopping by to pick up a pricey sou- international following, and says it is seen by onymous with the “black is beautiful” movement wearing natural hair, they look at you like you are a pariah, venir from its gold bar vending machine. millions of viewers in more than 100 countries. Rchampioned by African-Americans in the 1960s? A like there is a problem, when actually, it should be normal,” It has been popular for years across the Arab group in Ivory Coast is trying to persuade black women to said Liliana Lambert. Lambert, a 27-year-old half European, world, though competition has grown as view- turn the page on their expensive hair-straighteners, exten- who adorns her naturally frizzy hair with flowers, said peo- ers tune in to increasingly popular Turkish soap sions and wigs and go natural instead. Blending “natural” ple “want to touch such hair all the time” because they operas and round-the-clock news and movie with “happy” to produce “Nappy”, the group calls itself don’t know what it is like. “It’s just ignorance,” she said. The channels. Episodes of the soap opera air three Nappys de Babi-Babi being a nickname for Abidjan, Ivory only Nappy-boy at the session, Ange-Dady Akre-Loba, a 28- times a day on the Dubai One satellite network. Coast’s bustling economic capital. Founded more than two year-old stylist with mid-length locks, said men, too, get “Many people here come up, say how much years ago, the support group now boasts some 2,400 mem- odd looks if they do not stick with the usual close-cropped they love the show,” Lang said. “I didn’t know bers, meeting every two months in Abidjan’s trendy style worn by Ivory Coast men. how popular it was here.” Cocody district to share advice, tips, and practical help “From five centimeters (two inches), it is considered too For the Emirates, the three-day shoot is an about keeping their hair natural. long here... Many people would say I have a bit too much opportunity to help develop the local enter- Nappys de Babi bucks a deeply ingrained belief all hair,” he said. Less conformist men are expected to “remain tainment industry. Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the across Africa that straight hair conforms best to an ideal of discreet”, said Akre-Loba, who let his own hair grow out country’s two biggest cities, have each been beauty. In Ivory Coast, most women were teenagers when during the post-electoral violence that rocked the country working to entice filmmakers to the country. A they began renouncing their naturally kinky, frizzy hair. As a during 2010-2011. Leaving your home at the time was large part of 2011’s “Mission: Impossible - Ghost result, most do not know how to care for it and “make it potentially dangerous and most of the barbers were closed Protocol” was shot in Dubai. Scenes for the beautiful”, says Miriam Diaby, one of Nappys de Babi’s anyway so the insecurity offered Akre-Loba the excuse to forthcoming “Fast & Furious 7” will be shot in founders. “Society frowns on ‘afro’ hair overflowing all over finally go natural, he said. He has since learnt to ignore Abu Dhabi in April. An Abu Dhabi government- the place,” she said, lamenting that women have to opt for what others think and “try to carry on regardless and to be backed media hub known as twofour54 is act- “conventional” styles involving straightening or using false myself”. — AFP ing as the local producer and is helping with hair in the form of extensions or wigs. The little knowledge logistics for “The Bold and the Beautiful” shoot, on haircare is evident in some questions posed at the ‘The Bold and the according to its head of sales, Jamal al-Awadhi. group’s meeting, with one participant asking: “How do I Beautiful’ cast members “Daytime shows don’t typically get out on The Abu Dhabi Film Commission is offering a know if my hair is hydrated?” “Well, when they are stiff and Don Diamont, left, and location, certainly not the way we have,” 30 percent rebate on crew spending. Bell dry, that means they aren’t hydrated at all,” replies Bibi Katherine Kelly Lang, Diamont, who plays businessman Bill Spencer hopes the show’s Mideast foray changes view- Gagno, who created a motivational website, omgilovey- right, film a scene on a on the show, told The Associated Press during a ers’ perceptions of the region. “I was just struck ourhair.com. balcony of the Atlantis, break from filming. “I think for the fans it’s very by how wonderfully open and welcoming The Palm Hotel, in Dubai, entertaining to show these exotic locales.” “The everyone was. Just the beauty and extent of all ‘Like a pariah’ United Arab Emirates. Bold and the Beautiful” has filmed overseas there is to see here in Dubai, it’s something that The African sisters of the 1960s American “Black Is before, including in Italy, Mexico and Australia. the world needs to see,” he said. Episodes shot Beautiful” advocates need to emancipate themselves from But executive producer and head writer Brad in the Emirates are expected to air in the US in the dominant white model, the Nappys say. “When I arrived Bell says the UAE is the farthest the show has late May. — AP in Abidjan (after growing up in the United States and traveled from its Los Angeles base. Europe), I noticed, and it struck me, that all the advertising Bell said he has long wanted to film in the showed light-skinned women with long, smooth hair,” said Emirates because he is fascinated by the coun- Gagno. The fair skin-achieved in the Ivory Coast mainly try’s rapid growth and over-the-top attractions through constant application of carcinogenic whitening like the Palm Jumeirah Island. They chose to go products-is “synonymous to success”, the businesswoman for it now because lead actress Lang wanted to said. Going against the grain is deemed provocative. A young woman looks at her natural frizzy hair.