I was informed by Canada-Tajikistan Association of Tajiks in Canada that three movies had been produced by Tajik producers during the era of Soviet Union – these movies bought major parts the Iranian epic Shahnameh of Ferdowsi to life:
1. Doston/Dastan-e Rustam
2. Doston/Dastan-e Rustam-ou Suhrab
2. Doston/Dastan-e Siavoush
All three movies were produced by the late legendary Tajikistan producer Benyamin Kimyagarov (a Tajik Boukarian Jew). The second producer and director was the Tajik movie star Ustad Davlat Khoudonazarov, who currently lives in Moscow. He visited Montreal’s Tajik community in May 2008.
Here are the final moments of Rustam-ou Suhrab (Rustam and Suhrab):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFO7WQwESKA
Rustam – Played by Bimbolat Vataev, North Ossetian actor, who died a few years ago in Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia).
Tahmineh – Played by Svetlana Norbaeva
Suhrab/Sohrab – Played by Hoshim Gadoev, a Tajik cinema and theatre star who currently resides in Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Rustam slays the dragon. The tales of Rustam (the “Hercules of Persia”) are narrated in the Shahname epic written in the post-Islamic era after the fall of the Sassanian Empire. Known as the “Illiad of Persia”, the Shahname has preserved much of Iran’s ancient pre-Islamic heritage.
