'Mokhtar' series star talks with ifilm

In an ifilm exclusive interview, Farhad Aslani who played a key role in 'The Rise of Mokhtar' reveals catchy details on Iranian historical/religious series.

'The Rise of Mokhtar' by Davood Mir-Bagheri is among respectable works of Iranian TV productions with a theme on Imam Hussein (AS) as well as Mokhtar who vowed revenge against those who martyred the third Muslim Imam.   

Aslani played the role of Ubayd Allah Ibn Ziyad in the series and perfectly portrayed one of the most wicked characters in 'The Rise of Mokhtar'.

The actor was recently acclaimed for his appearance as Ibn Ziad in the series at International Festival of Ghadir, Iraq.

Aslani sat for an exclusive interview with ifilm about the period series. Here are some highlights of the interview conducted in Persian.

ifilm: Mr. Aslani, it has been 6 years since ‘The Rise of Mokhtar’ first aired in Iran. How did you manage to perfectly perform your role in the series?

Aslani: I did my homework well before taking on my role. Then I decided to play the character. Reading historical texts greatly helped present my role in a more credible fashion.  I didn’t memorize my lines as I felt them and completely inhabited the role. Even I changed the voice for the character approved by the director to show the social class difference between Ibn Ziad and common people at his era.   

ifilm: Which aspect of the character you played in ‘The Rise of Mokhtar’ was the hardest for you to portray?

Aslani: I think Ibn Ziad’s inward and outward characteristics were different and this made things rather tough. For example, he might be shattered but he laughs from inside.  When his greatest commander dies, he technically should cry, though such character laughs instead. We couldn’t predict a moment of his life. 

ifilm: Playing the role of Ibn Ziad who is one of the most hated names in history was probably hard for you. Would it be scary when you think people might see you in a negative light based off of this character?

Aslani: First off, if you want to play a villain with such thinking that the character is abominable, you can’t show their various aspects. Besides that, inhibiting such role does not depend on your beliefs and the actor’s worldview shouldn’t interfere in depiction of the role.  

As for the audience, I should say that while the character I played on the series was a villain, people could well relate to it. I think it was a success.

ifilm: How’s it like to work with Mir-Bagheri?

Aslani: He is a man of few words and sure enough I very much learnt from him. Spending intense moments with him, I can’t describe how well he answered my questions in the course of the project.  An interesting but otherwise difficult task he would undertake was writing some episodes on set while directing 'The Rise of Mokhtar' at the time filming temporarily stopped.

I like Mir-Bagheri so much and we don’t have simply just the director-actor relationship with each other. It is more like a relationship between the Murad (leader) and the Murid (pupil).

AG/AG