VERSATILE ACTRESS OF FREEDOM

She played many strong and diverse women. She was the wife of Mirza Fatali Axundov, the wife of Fatali khan, and a khan's daughter whom Koroglu loved. She played dozens of parts in cinema and about a hundred in theatre but people remember her primarily for one of her first works - the part of Gulcohra in the famous musical comedy "Arshin Mal Alan" ["The Cloth Peddler"].

In honour of Leyla  

 "Leyla Badirbayli's career in cinema was more than successful," says Aydin Kazimzada, a cinema historian, critic, and honorary figure of arts, in an interview with R+. "She acted in more than 50 feature and television films and also in television plays, and played amazing and absolutely different parts - those of our grandmothers, wives and sisters. She came into cinema owing to a lucky concurrence of circumstances, when she played the small part of a young pioneer in the film 'Three songs about Lenin'," the critic says. "However, eventually her coming into cinema was also a great success for all of Azerbaijan - since the moment 'Arshin Mal Alan' was released."

Aydin Kazimzada noted that the film largely owed its popularity to Leyla Badirbayli. The film was such a success that one person who saw it in Bulgaria wrote to Azerbaijani filmmakers that he had not been sure what name to give to his daughter that had just been born and, now, finally, he had decided to name her Leyla in honour of the actress who played the main woman's role in that film.

Things were not that easy in Badirbayli's professional life. In 1944, preparations were in full swing for shooting this film. There was a request from the government - to make some kind of an outlet for people of Azerbaijan who were tired of the war, to give them a festivity that would precede the future victory over fascism. And one of the most serious things in this film was the role of Gulcohra. Over 50 actresses were competing for the role.

Eventually, Badirbayli was selected. However, the requirements that were set for her were very strict. The director of the film, Rza Tahmasib, did not rule out that any actor could be replaced even while filming was in progress, and demanded that they exert themselves. He had a look at the results of the start of the filming and he was not happy about Badirbayli's acting. He told the girl that he was thinking of replacing her. The director did not make a decision to this effect but those words were enough to make the young actress despair.

She went to see Uzeyir Hacibayov and this is what she said about their meeting later: "I told Uzeyir bey that I would not play Gulcohra, and burst into tears." And then the composer inspired the actress by telling her that he had seen the screen tests and he personally liked them and that she was actually talented and all she needed to do was work hard and exert herself in that role. It is redundant to say what happened next and what a success the film subsequently was.

 However, Badirbayli was not always lucky at films. Thus, in "Koroglu" she played a khan's daughter, Nigar, who was in love with young Rovsan. On her path, Leyla's heroine overcomes a mass of obstacles, and the actress managed to show the inner world of the constantly stressed heroine, says the film expert. "However, the film itself on the whole was weak and many viewers simply did not evaluate the actors' performance."

Cinema and theatre

Leyla was born to the family of Agalar Badirbayli, who was from a family of Samkir beys. In 1936, she became the soloist for the Azerbaijani folk song and dance ensemble in which she worked up until 1942. In 1942, at the invitation of the management of the Masadi Azizbayov Azerbaijani Drama Theatre, Badirbayli started to perform on its stage. Later on, she said: "For me, theatre is linked to the names of leading figures like Mehdi Mammadov, Adil Iskandarov, and Aliheydar Alakbarov. My activities in cinema and theatre fell on wartime but, despite this, those years were very fruitful for the world of arts, including me."

She was a person who highly valued freedom in acting. In most countries it was a normal practice for a director to allow actors to improvise. However, Soviet school was stricter. Actors were therefore much better at walk-on parts or small parts.

Her small roles were also magnificent. "The small role of Xalida in the film 'Her great heart' was bright and psychologically deep," Kazimzada says. "She managed very well to portray a woman capable of rejecting someone she loved after she learnt that he had become blind in the war. That was one of the strongest parts that Leyla played in cinema."

"She always thoroughly studied her heroines," the film critic says. "When playing Fatali khan's wife, she managed to portray a strong and clever woman and a kind mother and at the same time a person that was able to hold a weapon in her hands." 

In exactly the same way in theatre, the romantic and poetic roles of Olivia and Desdemona in Shakespeare's plays were different but high quality in terms of their artistic expressiveness. The relatively small part of the strong-willed and principled Almas that she played in a play of the same name by Cafar Cabbarli was as deep. In Badirbayli's works, one could always feel her bent for independence and her own understanding of the part she played.

"In theatre she often played main parts as well, and she did it brilliantly, starting from her very first role - that of Zohra in a performance based on the play by Mirza Ibrahimov titled 'Love'," Kazimzada recalls. "During all those years of her work in theatre she only set herself high standards and never put them down."

Certainly, Badirbayli was a success owing to directors as well. Here, it is important to mention the directors of her theatrical works - Adil Iskandarov, Mehdi Mammadov, and Tofiq Kazimov. It was in Kazimov's play "Lie", which was based on a play by Sabit Rahman, that Badirbayli played one of her most profound characters - Salala, the niece of the "black old woman" Tarlan xanim. This was a very diverse character that conveyed and complemented the author's concept - delicate and emotional and with a convincing and natural psychologism. She showed very well how under the influence of an authoritative female relative her shy and modest heroine turns into a brazen and self-seeking criminal who deceives her three husbands. There was everything there: both topicality and artistic truth.

In addition to her works in cinema and theatre, Leyla Badirbayli is remembered by our viewers owing to the programme "Morning meetings", which she co-hosted since 1973 for 11 years together with another famous theatre actor, Lutfi Mammadbayov.

Fame across the Soviet Union

"She and I visited many towns of the Soviet Union together. Leyla xanim was met with applause everywhere," Kazimzada says. "She brought gifts everywhere she visited -  kalagayi [silk scarves], national shoes - charikhs, and souvenirs and presented them to the famous actresses of the republics we visited. She had a very open and generous heart."

 Once, after the collapse of the USSR, Days of Azerbaijani Cinema were held in Moscow. Actors were staying at the Rossiya hotel where there was this rule: the next morning after the days of cinema ended, we had to check out immediately so another delegation could check in. "After our events, we got together and took our luggage downstairs. Leyla xanim needed to stay in Moscow for longer and we found her a place in a small hotel attached to the Azerbaijani embassy," the film critic says.

"When we took her suitcases downstairs, the receptionist asked her: 'Leyla xanim, why are you leaving?'

'What do you mean?' she replied. 'You asked us to check out as soon as possible.'

'The entire delegation should check out,' the lady confirmed. 'But this does not apply to you. You can stay here as long as you want to.' She added: 'Every time you came down to the lobby, all girls in the hotel put aside whatever they were doing and came out to have a look at you!'"

Kazimzada also recalls the Days of Azerbaijani Cinema in Turkmenistan. The delegation, which was led by Azad Sarifov, included the most prominent actors of domestic cinema like Rasim Balayev, Hasan Mammadov, Hamida Omarova and others. "We were invited to a solemn dinner, and Azad muallim was asked to be the toastmaster for the evening. However, he replied: 'Let Leyla xanim be the toastmaster'," Kazimzada says.

"We were taken aback but the Turkmens started applauding, and Leyla xanim stood up. First, she spoke about Turkmenistan and then about its culture and most famous culture figures and actors. We knew that Leyla Badirbayli was brilliantly intellectual but nobody had expected her to be such a natural toastmaster."

After the dinner, the famous Turkmen actor Baba Annanov approached her, kneeled in front of her and said: "As a kid, the first time I saw 'Arshin Mal Alan' which featured you, I fell in love with that film, Rasid Behbudov's voice and you. I dreamt that I would visit Baku one day and would find you and talk to you. You must know that you are the reason I chose acting as my profession!" "That was a very touching scene to see," the film critic says.

Badirbayli did not do much acting in the last years of her life. She was very ill and was upset about the sudden death of her husband and daughter. She was also very bitter about the difficult state that cinema and theatre were in the lean 1990s which were made even worse by the war. Several years before she died, Badirbayli published a letter in which she said the following: "We have been in a state of war for seven years now, and our rich national cinema may die, I think... But we have so many themes now that are worth imprinting in the memory of the people forever..."