Shuhrat Abbosov (sometimes spelled Shukhrat Abbasov in English; Uzbek: Shuhrat Abbosov/Шуҳрат Аббосов; Russian: Шухрат Абба́сов) (16 January 1931 – 25 April 2018) was an Uzbek actor, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Abbasov was named People’s Artist of the USSR in 1981, later he was also named People's artist of Uzbekistan.[1] Abbosov was celebrated as one of the founders of the Uzbek film making industry.[2][3][4]
He graduated from the Tashkent Medical Vocational School in 1949. In 1954, Abbosov graduated from the Ostrovsky Tashkent Theater Arts Institute. Later he took graduate courses in film directing at Mosfilm, which he graduated in 1958. Abbasov’s diploma film was the short The Filipino and the Drunkard (1958), adapted from a story by William Saroyan. His feature film debut, The Entire Makhalia Is Talking about This (1961), was shot at Uzbekfilm Studio. The comedic tale about the tensions between the younger and older generations became a hit with viewers and critics; it remains his best known work and is considered to be one of the best Uzbek films of all time.[6] He is also known for writing the screenplay for the highly-popular 1977 adventure film The Mischievous Boy.[citation needed]
You Are Not an Orphan (1963) was hailed as a new page in the history of Uzbek cinema. The film tells the true story of a couple who adopted and raised fourteen orphaned children of different nationalities during the Great Patriotic War.
His film Tashkent Is a City of Bread (1968), from a semifictional novel by Aleksandr Neverov, set in 1921, tells the story of two peasant boys who are escaping the starved Russian countryside, hoping to find food in Central Asia. Abbasov then helmed the large-scale, two part biopic Abu-Raikhan Beruni (1975), produced on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of the medieval scholar, and Fiery Paths (1977–1985), a biographical television miniseries about the life and tragic fate of Uzbek author Hamza Hakimzade Niyazi.
He received many honorary titles and awards, including the titles People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR and People's Artist of the USSR.[7][8] Many of Abbosov's films have been included into the Russian Cinema Academy's Golden Fund of Soviet Cinema's Classics.[9]
He had four kids: Nazim Abbasov, Eldjohn Abbasov, Asal Abbasova. His youngest daughter, Stefaniya Abbasova, is an artist and now lives in Poznań, Poland.
