Interview by Oleg Kusov. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
Polad Bulbuloglu, a singer, actor, composer and currently the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia, acted in many films. But he missed a role specially made for him because the film, meant to be shot in 1978, was postponed. Polad Bulbuloglu does not know about it. Margarita Maleyeva, the writer of the film’s script, the widow of Soviet film director Adzhar Ibragimov, has described the story.
Adzhar Ibragimov worked at Mosfilm as a production director for over 30 years. He made such films as “Dela Serdechnye,” “Lyubov moya, pechal moya,” “Zvezdy ne Gasnut,” “Chudak” and others. He acted in some of them and wrote scripts for six films. He convinced his wife Margarita Maleyeva to switch from journalist of the Sovetskaya Kultura paper to writing film scripts with him.
Cinematographers familiar with Adzhar Ibragimov call him a talented and committed man. Many actors dreamed about being on his movie sets whenever he got down to filming. They knew that they would see interesting art and their work would not be overshadowed by administrative and financial problems. The authorities were generous with director Ibragimov. In 1978, the director made an unusual step, he decided to make a musical comedy based on Caucasus materials. At the time musical comedies were very rare in Soviet cinema, because Hollywood set a very high benchmark with its films “Sun Valley Serenade,” “The Great Waltz,” “Spinout” and many others. Some successful Soviet musical comedies include “Veseliye Rebyata,” “Volga – Volga,” “Nebesniye Lastochki,” “31 of June.” In general, a Soviet cinematographer in this genre was getting behind: one the one hand, successful scripts at studios were very much needed, on the other hand, few directors could handle them. A musical comedy is an extremely complicated genre, it needs knowledge and screen realization of a mass of art rules. Adzhar Ibragimov had the trust of everyone at Mosfilm.
“I went to a Sochi sanatorium alone in the summer, because Adzhar had decided to prepare the documents for making a comedy film. The telephone in my room was ringing nonstop, my husband was clarifying details of the script, discussing future scenes. On the fifth day he suddenly told me to return to Moscow, there was an urgent need to pass the scenario to the art council of Mosfilm. But how would I fly to Moscow from Sochi in the middle of the summer? In those years, it was almost impossible. Maybe today such problems are easy to solve, you buy a ticket at the booking office or on the internet, sometimes right before departure. But there were gaps back then, they were questions of money, just like today. Although finding the gaps was not easy. In other words, influential people helped me find a speculator who agreed to find a ticket in the early morning for a flight at 4.00pm at triple price. Next day, he found a ticket at double price. What could I do? The script needed such sacrifices, Adzhar told me to ignore expenditures and fly immediately. The next day, leaving the wonderful sea behind, I was back home in Moscow, behind a desk. But the arts council approved the script immediately. The State Committee for Cinematography started financing the film, we even received money. It means that work on the film entered its decisive stage,” Margarita Maleyeva told me.
* * *
The film had an extravagant name, “I Married My Mother-in-law.” It was based on jocular relations between the protagonist, the art director of a vocal instrumental ensemble, and his mother-in-law. She did not trust her son-in-law, and when her daughter, a circus performer, was away, she decided watch him to see whether he was cheating. According to the scriptwriter, the protagonist and his ensemble went to the Caucasus, to see the wedding of a friend living in a highland village. An attractive solo singer Tamara, who gave rise to the mother-in-law’s suspicions, was part of the ensemble. Naturally, the mother-in-law secretly followed the ensemble to investigate the son-in-law’s behaviour. The ensemble reached the village comfortably, the mother-in-law had to walk or even ride a donkey, she set a tent opposite the collective farm House where the ensemble was accommodated. She watched the son-in-law through binoculars… When locals found her, she tried to confuse them, speak French, scaring local highlanders. Of course, she was reported as an American spy…
There was supposed to be music and songs throughout the film. Super popular singer and composer Polad Bulbuloglu and the gracious and intelligent actress Irina Miroshnichenko (she acted in many of Ibragimov’s films) were the first picks for the main roles. Bulbuloglu was supposed to make the music and songs, although it needed the approval of Mosfilm. But when Ibragimov made a decision, few people could stop him from implementing it. The director finally chose the performers and the composer. He just needed to find them by phone and discuss details. Miroshnichenko was easy to find in Moscow. Polad Bulbuloglu was deep into filming shows, he was constantly away, so the talks were postponed until his return.
Why was Adzhar Ibragimov interested in the relations between a mother-in-law and a son-in-law? Margarita Maleyeva explains that her husband had relations with two mothers-in-law who differed from the stereotypical. His first wife died early, the kids were raised by her mother, but the son-in-law helped her in all aspects. He had the same peaceful and kind relations with the mother of Margarita Maleyeva. “Mothers-in-law are great people who want only the best for their children and grandchildren. A mother-in-law should be treasured!” wise Adzhar kept reiterating. No one has ever heard him say a single bad word about a mother-in-law. According to the script of the comedy film, the protagonist’s mother-in-law was an amazing person, yet meticulous and restless.
Everything was ready for the big and interesting work and it seemed that no obstacles could stand in the way of the art plans. Polad Bulbuloglu was about to return to Moscow… But life is a lot richer than we envision it. One day, a call from the USSR State Committee for Cinematography was heard. Adzhar was given a task of state importance, to contribute to friendly relations of the USSR and Turkey. The director was asked to make a joint Soviet-Turkish film based on the “Legend of Love” play of Nazim Hikmet. The Committee chose Ibragimov for his good knowledge and love of Turkey. He was an old friend of Hikmet and could not miss the opportunity.
The parable film was released under the title “My Love, My Sorrow.” Audiences in both countries love the film. After it, Adzhar Ibragimov started making a film based on another play of Nazim Hikmet. The script was made by Margarita Maleyeva. It was filmed in Azerbaijan to recreate the atmosphere of life in Turkey in the second half of the 20th century. Mercedes cars were brought to the stage. Head of the republic Heydar Aliyev helped with the filming. He lived near the cinematographers’ place, at the KGB resort in Azerbaijan. They had to spend hours in traffic jams when going to the set. The makeup would be ruined after hours in 40-degree heat. Heydar Aliyev offered to accompany his convoy, allowing them to get to the set 40 minutes faster.
The director was consumed by Nazim Hikmet’s works. His cooperation with the world-known Turkish writer started at the Baku Film Studio in 1957. Ibragimov made a film based on his script “Two from a Quarter.” In the mid-1980s, Adzhar Ibragimov was asked to make a film “The Unfavorable Man.” It stirred up the public because it depicted a conflict between an economic executive and the party committee. Then Perestroika started, followed by the collapse of the whole country, not to mention the cinema. No one would care about musical comedies about mothers-in-law! In 1993 Adzhar Ibragimov died at the age of 74.
Polad Bulbuloglu was never told that he was picked for the main role in a nonexistent film. Margarita Maleyeva is confident that he would have accepted the role, he was on very good terms with director Ibragimov. They had common views on many aspects of art.
The director’s widow Margarita Maleyeva wanted to tell the story to Polad Bulbuloglu several times at commemorations of her husband, meetings at the embassy, but the situation was unsuitable for such a narration.
“Let Polad Bulbulevich learn about the story from our conversation,” Margarita Maleyeva said. Maybe I missed some details of the description, it happens, because Margarita Maleyeva is a very scrupulous story-teller. Her memory contains many eloquent and exact details worth encyclopaedic accuracy. It is a pleasure to hear such stories.
By the way, she still has the script for the musical comedy. Maybe someday there will be people to make a screen version of the merry Caucasus story approved by the Mosfilm art council over 30 years ago. There will have to be different actors, but Irina Miroshnichenko and Polad Bulbuloglu would be priceless consultants. Most importantly, they knew Adzhar Ibragimov well and have full understanding of his film-making manner.
Caucasus cinema: unknown role in nonexistent filmInterview by Oleg Kusov. Exclusively for Vestnik KavkazaPolad Bulbuloglu, a singer, actor, composer and currently the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia, acted in many films. But he missed a role specially made for him because the film, meant to be shot in 1978, was postponed. Polad Bulbuloglu does not know about it. Margarita Maleyeva, the writer of the film’s script, the widow of Soviet film director Adzhar Ibragimov, has described the story.Adzhar Ibragimov worked at Mosfilm as a production director for over 30 years. He made such films as “Dela Serdechnye,” “Lyubov moya, pechal moya,” “Zvezdy ne Gasnut,” “Chudak” and others. He acted in some of them and wrote scripts for six films. He convinced his wife Margarita Maleyeva to switch from journalist of the Sovetskaya Kultura paper to writing film scripts with him.Cinematographers familiar with Adzhar Ibragimov call him a talented and committed man. Many actors dreamed about being on his movie sets whenever he got down to filming. They knew that they would see interesting art and their work would not be overshadowed by administrative and financial problems. The authorities were generous with director Ibragimov. In 1978, the director made an unusual step, he decided to make a musical comedy based on Caucasus materials. At the time musical comedies were very rare in Soviet cinema, because Hollywood set a very high benchmark with its films “Sun Valley Serenade,” “The Great Waltz,” “Spinout” and many others. Some successful Soviet musical comedies include “Veseliye Rebyata,” “Volga – Volga,” “Nebesniye Lastochki,” “31 of June.” In general, a Soviet cinematographer in this genre was getting behind: one the one hand, successful scripts at studios were very much needed, on the other hand, few directors could handle them. A musical comedy is an extremely complicated genre, it needs knowledge and screen realization of a mass of art rules. Adzhar Ibragimov had the trust of everyone at Mosfilm. “I went to a Sochi sanatorium alone in the summer, because Adzhar had decided to prepare the documents for making a comedy film. The telephone in my room was ringing nonstop, my husband was clarifying details of the script, discussing future scenes. On the fifth day he suddenly told me to return to Moscow, there was an urgent need to pass the scenario to the art council of Mosfilm. But how would I fly to Moscow from Sochi in the middle of the summer? In those years, it was almost impossible. Maybe today such problems are easy to solve, you buy a ticket at the booking office or on the internet, sometimes right before departure. But there were gaps back then, they were questions of money, just like today. Although finding the gaps was not easy. In other words, influential people helped me find a speculator who agreed to find a ticket in the early morning for a flight at 4.00pm at triple price. Next day, he found a ticket at double price. What could I do? The script needed such sacrifices, Adzhar told me to ignore expenditures and fly immediately. The next day, leaving the wonderful sea behind, I was back home in Moscow, behind a desk. But the arts council approved the script immediately. The State Committee for Cinematography started financing the film, we even received money. It means that work on the film entered its decisive stage,” Margarita Maleyeva told me.* * *The film had an extravagant name, “I Married My Mother-in-law.” It was based on jocular relations between the protagonist, the art director of a vocal instrumental ensemble, and his mother-in-law. She did not trust her son-in-law, and when her daughter, a circus performer, was away, she decided watch him to see whether he was cheating. According to the scriptwriter, the protagonist and his ensemble went to the Caucasus, to see the wedding of a friend living in a highland village. An attractive solo singer Tamara, who gave rise to the mother-in-law’s suspicions, was part of the ensemble. Naturally, the mother-in-law secretly followed the ensemble to investigate the son-in-law’s behaviour. The ensemble reached the village comfortably, the mother-in-law had to walk or even ride a donkey, she set a tent opposite the collective farm House where the ensemble was accommodated. She watched the son-in-law through binoculars… When locals found her, she tried to confuse them, speak French, scaring local highlanders. Of course, she was reported as an American spy…There was supposed to be music and songs throughout the film. Super popular singer and composer Polad Bulbuloglu and the gracious and intelligent actress Irina Miroshnichenko (she acted in many of Ibragimov’s films) were the first picks for the main roles. Bulbuloglu was supposed to make the music and songs, although it needed the approval of Mosfilm. But when Ibragimov made a decision, few people could stop him from implementing it. The director finally chose the performers and the composer. He just needed to find them by phone and discuss details. Miroshnichenko was easy to find in Moscow. Polad Bulbuloglu was deep into filming shows, he was constantly away, so the talks were postponed until his return.Why was Adzhar Ibragimov interested in the relations between a mother-in-law and a son-in-law? Margarita Maleyeva explains that her husband had relations with two mothers-in-law who differed from the stereotypical. His first wife died early, the kids were raised by her mother, but the son-in-law helped her in all aspects. He had the same peaceful and kind relations with the mother of Margarita Maleyeva. “Mothers-in-law are great people who want only the best for their children and grandchildren. A mother-in-law should be treasured!” wise Adzhar kept reiterating. No one has ever heard him say a single bad word about a mother-in-law. According to the script of the comedy film, the protagonist’s mother-in-law was an amazing person, yet meticulous and restless.Everything was ready for the big and interesting work and it seemed that no obstacles could stand in the way of the art plans. Polad Bulbuloglu was about to return to Moscow… But life is a lot richer than we envision it. One day, a call from the USSR State Committee for Cinematography was heard. Adzhar was given a task of state importance, to contribute to friendly relations of the USSR and Turkey. The director was asked to make a joint Soviet-Turkish film based on the “Legend of Love” play of Nazim Hikmet. The Committee chose Ibragimov for his good knowledge and love of Turkey. He was an old friend of Hikmet and could not miss the opportunity.The parable film was released under the title “My Love, My Sorrow.” Audiences in both countries love the film. After it, Adzhar Ibragimov started making a film based on another play of Nazim Hikmet. The script was made by Margarita Maleyeva. It was filmed in Azerbaijan to recreate the atmosphere of life in Turkey in the second half of the 20th century. Mercedes cars were brought to the stage. Head of the republic Heydar Aliyev helped with the filming. He lived near the cinematographers’ place, at the KGB resort in Azerbaijan. They had to spend hours in traffic jams when going to the set. The makeup would be ruined after hours in 40-degree heat. Heydar Aliyev offered to accompany his convoy, allowing them to get to the set 40 minutes faster.The director was consumed by Nazim Hikmet’s works. His cooperation with the world-known Turkish writer started at the Baku Film Studio in 1957. Ibragimov made a film based on his script “Two from a Quarter.” In the mid-1980s, Adzhar Ibragimov was asked to make a film “The Unfavorable Man.” It stirred up the public because it depicted a conflict between an economic executive and the party committee. Then Perestroika started, followed by the collapse of the whole country, not to mention the cinema. No one would care about musical comedies about mothers-in-law! In 1993 Adzhar Ibragimov died at the age of 74.Polad Bulbuloglu was never told that he was picked for the main role in a nonexistent film. Margarita Maleyeva is confident that he would have accepted the role, he was on very good terms with director Ibragimov. They had common views on many aspects of art.The director’s widow Margarita Maleyeva wanted to tell the story to Polad Bulbuloglu several times at commemorations of her husband, meetings at the embassy, but the situation was unsuitable for such a narration.“Let Polad Bulbulevich learn about the story from our conversation,” Margarita Maleyeva said. Maybe I missed some details of the description, it happens, because Margarita Maleyeva is a very scrupulous story-teller. Her memory contains many eloquent and exact details worth encyclopaedic accuracy. It is a pleasure to hear such stories.By the way, she still has the script for the musical comedy. Maybe someday there will be people to make a screen version of the merry Caucasus story approved by the Mosfilm art council over 30 years ago. There will have to be different actors, but Irina Miroshnichenko and Polad Bulbuloglu would be priceless consultants. Most importantly, they knew Adzhar Ibragimov well and have full understanding of his film-making mann
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