In the early 1990s, an Azerbaijani reader discovered Kurban Said's novel ‘Ali and Nino’, and ever since then accepts and loves it unconditionally. Around the same time a literary controversy flared up about the authorship of the novel , which has not been established with certainty so far. This also gives the novel a certain disturbing charm. Some researchers believe that a refined Azerbaijani intellectual and writer Yusif Vazir Chamanzaminli was hiding under the name of Kurban Said, others argue that it is none other than a German writer and journalist, the son of the Baku oil tycoon Lev Nussimbaum, who converted to Islam and studied in the Baku gymnasium like his favorite hero Ali Khan. There are other versions, including the most exotic.
One thing is certain: the novel ‘Ali and Nino’, which became a bestseller after the first edition in 1937 and was published in 33 countries in dozens of languages, is an outstanding phenomenon in the world of literature. It is written with love for Baku, it reflects the history of a struggle of the Azerbaijani intelligentsia for the independence of the republic and therefore, regardless of its authorship, the novel is the classics of the Azerbaijani literature.
The public was exited not only about the authorship of the novel, but about a possible film adaptation of the beloved novel. We all wanted to be the first nation to embody this eternal love story of a Muslim and Christian in a movie. That is why we were so jealous of the rumors, which periodically leaked to the press: first, Georgians wanted to shoot a film ‘Ali and Nino", and even came to Baku for negotiations, then the Hollywood was going to write a screenplay and shoot a film with the same title. Of course, it was clear that we would unlikely shoot an epic motion pictures about love of young people on the background of the epochal events of the early 20th century at the current level of the Azerbaijani cinema. And still we wanted to see the names of the representatives of our country among the filmmakers of the cult novel.
Fortunately, it has happened. Recently I got to be present at the Baku premiere of the ‘Ali and Nino’ movie, an executive producer of which is the Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva. Although a script was written by a Hollywood screenwriter, the Oscar winner Christopher Hampton and directed by a British Asif Kapadia, the crew of the movie is international, and the main characters were played by an American of Egyptian origin, Adam Bakri, and a Spaniard, María Valverde, we can catch a break - this is OUR movie. It is made with love and respect for our history and is worthy of its outstanding original. An Azerbaijani side invested not only the financial resources in the project, but also its heart, and this was estimated by the moviemakers, one of the producers, Chris Tike, said warmly at the presentation.
This is Leyla Aliyeva’s second project as a producer and another declaration of love to Baku - a city with a very complex and at the same time amazing destiny. The city, which by its very existence refutes an idea that the East is the East and the West is the West, and that they will never be united. Although the author of ‘The Ballad of the East and West", a famous English writer Rudyard Kipling, who owns this saying, wanted to say something quite different: namely, that, in spite of the differences between these civilizations, their representatives may be united by strong feelings and common values - love, honor, courage, patriotism. An embodiment of these feelings is in the image of Ali Khan Shirvanshira, a young Azeri nobleman, whose love for the homeland and a desire to see Azerbaijan as an independent state are ultimately stronger than the love for a woman and more valuable than life itself. In my opinion, the choice of actors for the leading roles of Ali and Nino - is a direct hit. That's the way we imagined them - a gentle and at the same time strong, flirtatious, and at the same time loyal, proud and independent, and at the same time infinitely devoted to her husband, Nino. A swarthy handsome man with refined features, tall and purebred as a Karabakh horse, on which he catches up Malik Nahararyan, who kidnapped Nino, brave and fanatically devoted to the idea of independence, Ali. The rest of the cast is also matching perfectly. it is pleasant that there are our leading actors, Fakhraddin Manafov and Mehriban Zeki, among the others.
A screenplay was written by an author, who writes for the Hollywood, so an impact of this giant factory of dreams, of course, is felt. Undoubtedly, both WWI, the fall of the autocracy and establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, which became a first republic in the East - all of these epochal events are pictured in the film. But its only a background, against which a touching story of love between a Georgian and Azerbaijani is unfolding. The characters lack of volume and reflection, inherent in the novel, many reasonings of the the characters, which are presented in the book (for example, quiet interesting debates of Ali Khan and Malik Nahararyan in Shusha). As a result, the story, which is developing quite slowly and, moreover, is narrated in the first person in the novel, is given the necessary dynamism and entertainment in the movie.
The ‘Ali and Nino’ is not just a romantic story of an eternal love. It is also the story of our beautiful city, where the East and West, the European and Muslim values have come together, where the representatives of different nationalities live and breathe so easily. This is the story of a struggle of our brave ancestors for the independence of Azerbaijan, which we lost back in 1920 and found once again 70 years later. This is the story of the events that should never happen again in our lives.
The film is topical for Azerbaijan than ever. A younger generation of our countrymen must watch this movie. I hope he will be wide released and shown in the cinemas of Baku, especially when there is a wonderful dubbing of the picture on the Azerbaijani language. I am sure that the executive producer of the ‘Ali and Nino’ movie, Leyla Aliyeva, along with her creative colleagues will do her best to ensure this movie to be watched by as many people on the planet as possible. And the is no doubt that the film is doomed to be successful with audiences. The ‘Ali and Nino’ movie will also receive the numerous awards at the prestigious international film festivals. We wish the film good luck and deep waters in the world of cinema!
