Ï Kakov Orazsahatov: movie director, who screened a film about the adventures of the naughty brothers Japbaklar
mail-icon
altynasyr.newspaper@sanly.tm
EN RU TK

Kakov Orazsahatov: movie director, who screened a film about the adventures of the naughty brothers Japbaklar

view-icon 3691

His fortune was full of surprises, tragedies and comedies, which happen in the life of every person. However, not everyone will be able to look at what is happening so ironically, with a smile, and from any life situation create an anecdote, eternalized in cinema.

The talented actor, movie director and screenwriter Kakov Orazsahatov passed away 10 years ago; he has presented us with many good films, among them are "The oaths of our childhood", "The Kugitan tragedy" and "Japbaklar".

More than one generation of citizens of Turkmenistan grew up on these stories, included in the «golden collection» of the domestic cinematography. Kind and dramatic stories of his movies still touch viewers to the depths of the soul, but once the author of legendary films dreamed of a completely different profession.

– After graduating from school with good grades, Kakov decided to enter the Faculty of Journalism, but he lacked only one point to enroll in the university, - recalls the director's widow Elsa Orazsahatova. – But he was admitted to VGIK (then the All-Union Institute of Cinematography), to the famous acting studio of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova. In a student dormitory, Kakov shared a room with Vasily Shukshin, how many funny stories he later talked about this neighborhood. Among the course mates of the future director was also Lyudmila Gurchenko, with whom he was lucky to work in the student play "Othello". Kakov appeared in the role of the Venetian Moor, and the young Lyudmila Markovna played the role of Juliet.

Little fellow from the Turkmen province, who became an orphan at a young age, Kakov Orazsahatov had deep devotion to the Motherland. After graduating from Moscow, he returned to Ashgabat, but not alone, but with a beautiful, nice wife. He met his Elsa in 1955, at a cultural event of an all-Union scale.


“I had two friends, one was Turkmen and the other was Kyrgyz, they invited me to the Decade of Literature and Art of one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, which took place in Moscow in those years,” says Elza Orazsahatova. - It was there that our fateful meeting took place. Kakov impressed me from the first minutes with his noble figure, his ability to speak beautifully and joke. We began to communicate, and soon we had a student wedding. After graduation, we arrived to his historical homeland. And although I myself am originally from Kazakhstan, when I found myself on the Turkmen land, I learned what a really hot summer is. Here we lived in perfect harmony for 53 years, and it was the happiest period in my life.


The wife accompanied her husband at the screening the film "Japbaklar", where very young actors were involved. The oldest leading actor at that time was only 16 years old.

– “Japbaklar” was filmed in Bakharden. The days were very warm then, but it was cold at night, but nothing interfered with the creative process. Day after day, Kakov rehearsed with the children, he himself got used to their characters, showed how to work on the role, and the young actors literally adapted every comment on the fly. 

The comedy fairy-tale film shot in 1972, the script of which was developed based on the book of the Turkmen writer Berdi Kerbabayev, immediately fell in love with both adults and children for sparkling humor and youthful optimism, such was Kakov Orazsahatov himself.

The director always kept under his pillow a volume of Makhtumkuli's poems, the work of a poet and philosopher, a classic of Turkmen literature, served as a kind of reference point for the director's practice.

People's artist honored arts worker Kakov Orazsahatov worked with many famous directors of the country. His cinematic heritage includes a dozen feature films and fifty documentaries. Colleagues, friends and relatives remember the director as a resilient, cheerful person, with an open heart, who created the kind and ironic movies.

Svetlana Chirtsova