Babek

Babek is a 1979 Soviet historical drama directed by Eldar Kuliev and made jointly by the Azerbaijanfilm and Mosfilm studios. Often cited as the costliest production of the Azerbaijan SSR, the film tells the story of Babak Khorramdin, the leader of an uprising against the Abbasid Caliphate. Over more than two decades, the Khurramite movement under his command spread across Iran and Azerbaijan, seeking to throw off despotic foreign domination. The revolt was finally put down through the military campaign of the Abbasid general Afshin. Rasim Balayev stars as Babak, with Hasanagha Turabov in the role of Afshin, and the screenplay was written by the novelist Anvar Mammadkhanli. The film is widely counted among the finest works of Azerbaijani cinema, and its cultural resonance in Azerbaijan continues to this day.