ifilm talks with Raspberry award winner turning into superstar

ifilm interviews Iranian superstar Bahram Radan who once received the Golden Raspberry award for one of his earliest flicks before shooting to stardom.

When the actor starred in 'Passion of Love' and received the worst performance rate in Iranian cinema, no one had ever thought he could become a megastar with such national and international fame and recognition.

However, he proved to everyone that his love for art beat anything, including getting the worst prize in early years of his acting career.

ifilm talked with this prolific actor who recently appeared in three films screened at 37th edition of Fajr Film Festival in Iran.

Below are most interesting sections of what ifilm could grab while chatting with Radan.

ifilm: In recent years, Bahram Radan has been working in new fields of acting. The proof to this is your appearance in three different films at the Fajr Film Festival this year. When did you decide to experience new roles?

Radan: I think actors, with time passage and build-up of experience and awareness, do all in their power to create a different atmosphere for themselves. I think if this does not come about, you will be doomed to get stuck in a rut. I tried to respect the audience’s understanding during all these years I worked. I also chose my acting fields with awareness and picked the best from the offers I received. However, it should be noted that everything in cinema is not the hands of the actor. No matter how hard you try to choose the best, sometimes the result is not favorable and ends up in failure.

This is while my attempt, especially in recent years, has been to keep the audience pleased with my acting and just hope that such goal I attained.

ifilm: Fereydoun Jeyrani attended this year’s Fajr festival with 'The Agitation'; the film was kind of a continuation of his very last title ‘Asphyxia’ and in homage to classical cinema. The different atmosphere of the film is naturally harder for you and Iranian actress Mrs. Mahnaz Afshar. How did you decide to appear in Jeyrani’s film?

Radan: Fereydoun Jeyrani, in my opinion, is a brand-name director. This means that his works need no famous actors to get recognition from the audience and critics. His name tempts any actor for that matter. His brevity is commendable from my perspective. The creative thinking and innovative ideas in his filmmaking are very respected by me and I have learned so much from him. I had the best of my time being in his film and appearing before Jeyrani’s lens!

I’ve known this director of cinema for twenty years, but I hadn’t gotten the chance to work with him before this film was confirmed and tuned out to be an exceptional experience for me. Mrs. Afshar already experienced working with her, but in my case it was the first. I liked all the moments in his film and am happy to have played in Jeyrani’s new title.

ifilm: How would you evaluate your career success in the last year?
 
Radan: I have played in three films, one by Fereydoun Jirani, ‘Original Ideal' by Azita Mougouee as well as ‘Tsunami’ by Milad Sadr-Amali. These three films were in three genres.

I tried to choose the best among the offers I received. I'm satisfied with my choices and I did my level best to play my roles in the best possible vein.

I'm never pleased with myself; I know the death of my art comes on the day I'm quite pleased with myself. I criticize myself with no mercy, trying to get better year after year with good choices that I make.

ifilm viewers are most likely to remember this actor from ‘The Yellow Rose’ and ‘Down and Out’.

AG/AG