Cinema
If Not That One, Then This One
O olmasın, bu olsun
Huseyn Seyidzade · 1956
Synopsis
Rüstəm bəy, a ruined bey, wants to marry his daughter Gülnaz to Məşədi İbad, a rich and elderly bazaar merchant, in order to pay his creditors. But Gülnaz loves Sərvər, a student. Around this arranged marriage the schemes of the merchant are woven together, along with those of a gang of thugs led by Qoçu Əsgər and those of a few acquaintances, each pulling in his own direction until the day set for the wedding.
Context
The film adapts the operetta that Üzeyir Hajibeyov wrote in 1910, also known by the name of its main character; the screenplay is by Sabit Rahman, and the shooting was in colour. Aliagha Aghayev plays the merchant, Tamara Guzalova Gulnaz, Arif Mirzaquliyev Sarvar and Aghasadiq Garaybeyli the father, and famous singers appear in it, including a trio who perform the mugham Segah. The film was presented in Moscow on 27 January 1958 and shown the same year in Tashkent, at the festival of Asian and African cinemas. The operetta had been filmed once before, in Yalta, in 1918 or 1919.
Who it is for
A sung comedy in colour, in which traditional mugham finds its place alongside the airs of the operetta.
Prizes and reception
Shown in more than forty countries in the three years that followed and translated into many languages, it is one of the most famous Azerbaijani films.