An Arabic adaptation of the smash-hit legal drama “Suits,” starring Egyptian star Asser Yassin, is set to launch in Ramadan 2022. Produced by the Cairo-based TVision, in partnership with OSN Original and Universal Studio Group, the show will be one of the biggest adaptations of an international TV show into Arabic. Speaking to Arab News, Tarek El-Ganainy, CEO of TVision media production, talked about the adaptation. “The journey of ‘Suits’ started almost five years ago. While we were producing SNL, NBC Universal asked us to take a look at their catalogue and ‘Suits’ of course hit me the most because I’m a really big fan of the show.” “At the time, I thought it was going to be an easy adaptation. We negotiated the rights and we closed the deal quite fast. But the development process soon turned out to be harder than expected. The first writer we got on board translated the script literally,” El-Ganainy said. “There was nothing different or creative about it in any way.” So much of the appeal lies in cultural references, the context and the nature of the dialogue between characters. “We tried to adapt the show to make it Arabic and to appeal to an Arab audience, without losing its essence. For example, we were very interested in keeping the movie quotes, this was always fun in the US version,” he said in reference to the scenes where the two main characters exchange movie quotes. “Doing this in the Arabic version will attract viewers even more because you will see the two main characters making jokes through movie quotes, but in Arabic and quoting films that we are all familiar with.” Remaking a popular TV show in a different language is a challenging process that requires a strict balance between remaining faithful to the original text and also preserving the culture of the context in which the adapted show is set. Recently, Netflix released its first Arabic film, an adaptation of the Italian film “Perfetti Sconosciutti” or “Perfect Strangers” featuring renowned actors from Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan. There was a strong backlash from Egyptian audiences and the film was accused of “promoting homosexuality” and “destroying family values,” despite being the most-watched film in Egypt a few days after its release. One lawyer even argued that Netflix should be banned altogether “I did not have this problem with ‘Suits’ because at the end of the day it’s an office drama, and it’s also a TV show,” El-Ganainy said. “Unlike cinema, TV shows have their own set of rules and there’s more freedom and room for adaptability and originality.” While the Arabic version is heavily based on the US show, El-Ganainy insisted that the audience will be able to see the originality of remake, which has tried to maintain Arab values and culture. “For example, the storyline of the main character Mike and his grandmother. In the Arab world, no one puts their grandmother in a nursing home, you would be viewed as a bad person, even though in the US version Mike was doing all what he was doing to continue paying for her nursing home and care.” “The biggest challenge for us was to take something as humongous as ‘Suits,’ and make it our own,” El-Ganainy said. “I believe that the people waiting for us to fail are just as important as those cheering for our success because those are the people that we want to prove to that we can do this because we care about the show.”