she married Egyptian film star Omar Sharif. Meanwhile, Hamama continued to act in films directed by her first husband. In 1954, while filming a Youssef Chahine film, Struggle in the Valley, Hamama refused to have the Egyptian actor Shukry Sarhan as a co-star, and Chahine offered Omar Sharif the role. Omar had just graduated from college then and was working for his father; Hamama accepted him as her co-star. Hamama had never agreed to act any scene involving a kiss in her career, but she accepted. They fell in love, and Omar Sharif married her. This marriage started a new era of Hamama's career, in which the couple made many films together. Omar Sharif and Faten Hamama were the romantic leads of Ayyamna al-Holwa (أيامنا الحلوة, Our Sweet Days), Ard al-Salam (أرض السلام, Land of Peace), La Anam (لا أنام, Sleepless) and Sayyidat al-Qasr (سيدة القصر, The Lady of the Palace). Their last film together before their divorce was Ezz El-Dine Zulficar's Nahr al-Hob (نهر الحب, The River of Love) in 1960. Controversy in the late 1960s Hamama left Egypt from 1966 to 1971, claiming that she was being harassed by Egyptian Intelligence. She had been a supporter of the 1952 Revolution, but later became an opponent of the Free Officers and their oppressive regime. She said they were "asking her to cooperate" but she apologized and refused. In consequence, she was forbidden to travel or participate in film festivals. She was only able to leave Egypt after many serious disputes, where she lived in Paris, London and Lebanon. While she was away, then President Gamal Abdel Nasser asked famous writers, journalists and friends to try to convince her to return to Egypt. He called her a "national treasure" and even awarded her an honorary decoration in 1965. However, she did not return until 1971, after Nasser's death. Following her return she played roles conveying messages of democracy. Her first film after her return to Egypt was alongside the Egyptian leading movie star Salah Zulfikar in the 1971 TV short film named Witch (ساحرة, Sahira), and in the same year, she starred in the 1971 film Thin Thread (الخيط الرفيع, Al Khait Al Rafie). She often criticized the laws in Egypt in her films. In the 1972 film Imbratoriyat Meem (إمبراطورية ميم, The Empire of M), Hamama presented a pro-democratic point of view and received an award from the Soviet