His characters, which he masterfully raised to the level of character in numerous national cinemas, were characterized by deep psychological interpretation. Individual style of expression and loyalty to the classical traditions of our cinema culture were continued innovatively in accordance with artistic-aesthetic principles in the creativity of this artist. He always managed to make the audience think with the images he created in the cinema. The outstanding actor Rasim Balayev, who occupies a special place in modern Azerbaijani culture, has made valuable contributions to the development of national cinema art with his rich creative pursuits. Throughout his career, the artist has won inexhaustible love of the audience and has been awarded the highest honors. SIA informs that today the People’s Artist, winner of the State Prize, actor with the “Shohrat”, “Sharaf” and “Istiqlal” orders Rasim Balayev turns 75 years old.
The artist was born on August 8, 1948 in Agsu district and graduated from Azerbaijan State Art Institute in 1969. For the first time, he appeared in a small role in the film “Stars do not go out” at the Baku film studio. The roles in the films “Nasimi”, “Babak” and “Dade Gorgud” won the love of the audience. The film actor working under the “Azerbaijanfilm” film studio also worked in a theater studio. In addition to big and difficult roles, Rasim Balayev also played small roles. He appeared in episodic roles in films such as “This sweet word, freedom”, “Your first hour”, “Scene of happiness”, “I will still return”, “Somebody’s Midnight”. People’s artist appeared in films at “Uzbekfilm”, “Mosfilm” and other film studios.
From 1990 to 2013, he was the secretary of the Union of Cinematographers of Azerbaijan, and from May 31, 2022, he started working as the chairman of the Union of Cinematographers of Azerbaijan.
The meaningful creative path dedicated by Rasim Balayev to cinema is a real art school for several generations of young actors. As the winner of the nomination for “Best Male Role”, Rasim Balayev received what an actor can receive in his lifetime only for the role of Nasimi. He was 25-26 years old at that time. The actor played the role of Babek at the age of 31.
The outstanding artist has played the leading roles in 70 films that were shown in Germany, Turkey, Iran, Tajikistan, Ossetia, the first cinema of Chechens, Uzbekistan, Moscow, Georgia. He was not only loved as a positive hero, but also portrayed the negative types in the society with all their nakedness before the eyes of the audience.
Rasim Balayev was the People’s Artist of Azerbaijan at the age of 34. Because when Nasimi’s skin was peeled off, she loved her art so much that she pressed the nail she kept in her palm with all her might and nailed it to her flesh so that she could inflict that pain on her face. As the nail splits her palm, Nasimi experiences the physical agony of being skinned and takes it for granted. Or, in the movie “Mule Mammad”, Goyush falls on the grass while shooting him and tries to avoid falling down and dying as soon as the bullet hits him in the previous films. After all, a person falls to the ground, strives and gives his life. When Rasim hit himself on the grass, he didn’t know how the scar stone in the grass would injure him, because of the pain he couldn’t bear to try.
He has played heroes all his life, but that does not mean that we should expect heroism from him. He himself said about this: “I am not a hero, I have only played heroes.”
Rasim Balayev voiced various characters in the dubbing of dozens of foreign films. The actor is very competent in sounding the psychological tones of the voice at the character level in those screen works. For this, it is enough to remember the voice of Jenya in the movie “Always Clean” by Andrey Myakkov in Azerbaijani.
His services to the development of our cinema culture and the successes he achieved in this direction indicate that he devoted the main part of his 75-year life to art.
Rasim Balayev’s work has always been highly appreciated by the state, and he was awarded with the highest state orders and awards. Rasim Balayev was awarded the Order of Glory on August 7, 1998, the Order of Honor on August 1, 2018, and the Order of Independence on August 7, 2023.
We congratulate teacher Rasim on his 75th birthday and wish him good health.
