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My Beloved Tehran Israel today

2020-07-25T17:31:17.700Z


| You sat downThe Iranian Rabin Allenby jumped at the chance to play in the series, even though he knew it would prevent him from returning to his homeland • Misses Niv Sultan and waits for the moment when he can visit Israel There are roles that come alongside a great sacrifice, but it is very rare to come across a role that burns an actor his chances of ever returning to his homeland. When the Iranian Rabin ...


The Iranian Rabin Allenby jumped at the chance to play in the series, even though he knew it would prevent him from returning to his homeland • Misses Niv Sultan and waits for the moment when he can visit Israel

There are roles that come alongside a great sacrifice, but it is very rare to come across a role that burns an actor his chances of ever returning to his homeland. When the Iranian Rabin Allenabi first read the script of "Tehran" - he immediately realized that this moment had come to him.

"My initial reaction was 'oh no', because the very idea of ​​participating in an Israeli series about Tehran attracted me very much," he says in a zoom conversation from his apartment in London, "the script I read was so good, and I immediately realized it would require me to make a decision.

"I imagined that maybe in my 30s I would get a project because of which I would not be able to return to Iran again, but in the end it fell on me at a much earlier age. Or Mae Gad. I took two weeks to think about what I should do. "Everything I love about Iran. Understand, I think about Iran every day, my memories from there are still fresh, and it's very sensitive and close to my heart. But I realized that 'Tehran' is my way of bringing something good into the world. Helping build a bridge of cultures."

In 2012, when he was 17, Allenby last visited the Islamic Republic. A standard family summer vacation. "I had no idea I would not step there again," he smiles longingly, "after we returned to England my grandfather passed away, and then my grandmother died two weeks later. It was a headache to face that on that visit I saw them, in fact, for the last time.

"I regretted not saying goodbye to them properly and did not hug them fairly before boarding the plane. In fact, I remember at the time, when I said 'bye' to people in Iran, I hugged them as if this was the last time we would see each other."

****

The role in question in "Tehran" made Allenby (25) a star in Israel, with an option for international expansion thanks to the sale of the spy series for broadcast on the Apple TV streaming services. "I got the news through a notification from entertainment news site Variety. I was planning to rest a bit in bed when I got a message on the phone 'Apple has acquired Tehran'. That day it was very rainy weather in London, and I didn't quite understand all the implications. People called and told me 'you're going to be a star "I did not know how to react, so I just ran out for 20 minutes in the rain. That was my way of dealing with the news."

In the series, he plays the character of Milad Kahani - a young Iranian student from Tehran, a reckless secularist, a wanted hacker who is fed up with the rule of the ayatollahs. He finds himself swept away by covert Mossad agent Tamar Rabinian (Niv Sultan) into a whirlpool of chaos, and is forced to face dilemmas of loyalty to the regime in the face of patriotism.

"I grew up in a small town in Iran, and I had a wonderful childhood, full of freedom, families and friends," he recalls, "I lack nothing. As children we were out of the house most of the time, and the parents were not bothered and did not always know where we were. My little sister on my bike, and together we rode for miles without fear of anything.It was a childhood of a different generation.

"I grew up in classic Iranian cinema. There was a channel on television that always screened old movies, even before the Revolution, and my mother and I would watch them together. Lots of black-and-white Iranian movies. That's why I adored Behrouz Vossoughi - he was the James Dean of Iran. "I would mimic all sorts of scenes from the movies in front of friends or family, so you could say I always wanted to be an actor."

Already at the age of 6 he participated in a play in a community drama class. "I played the jungle leader - the gorilla. There was a very big battle between the animals in the jungle, and the gorilla had to go through all the animals and make them friends again. It was videotaped, but the recording was lost in some warehouse in Iran. I asked those close to me to try to locate "The tape. It has value. It's basically my only documentation from my childhood that still exists somewhere."

Allenby and his family left Iran in 2007, but naturally he skimps on information about the reasons for his departure and other details of his life in this regard. "I know the Iranians will read the article, so for the sake of peace my people will not elaborate," he explains, "the reasons for leaving are not much different from those of any other immigrant - the desire to start a new life, more options, more jobs, and a brighter future for the next generation."

Did you understand all this in those days, as a child?

"At the age of 12 you do not know what to think. At the moment you are in another country, you are parachuted into a new school, you do not know the language, do not understand what is really going on around you. So you go beating all the time without being able to interpret all the emotions. .

"Leaving a country as a young boy is especially difficult because you have already grown strong roots that you have to leave behind. This is an age where you begin to absorb how the world works. Change challenges you powerfully, and no one will guide you how to act. As an immigrant you need to understand your place in the world. "Because no one else will teach you how to live."

For you, London is now a home?

"London for me is a city of unlimited possibilities, so I enjoy living here. The feeling is that anything is possible here. On the other hand, it also makes life here especially scary because everything here is the most - and 'most frightening' is one of the possibilities. But I am young , I'm energetic and I can handle anything.

"Part of me feels like my home is still in Iran, and others feel that England is my home. Even when I visited Iran I did not quite feel at home. It's like I have two half - houses, but neither of them is really complete."

He auditioned for "Tehran" in Zoom, after hearing about the role from his agent, then was flown from London to Athens for a brief meeting with director Danny Sirkin. As part of his preparations for the job, he practiced speaking in a Persian accent for three months - even outside the set - in order to obscure the British accent with which he hangs out on a daily basis.

He has since become an avid ambassador of the series, which is a success. "I saw all the episodes that aired, and even though I know exactly what's going to happen, I still feel like someone meeting the series for the first time," he says ahead of the season finale episode, next week. "Until now the episodes had fun, raves, road trips and young people's parties, but now the plot has reached its peak - fighter jets in the air. I miss the innocence of episode 5, when the characters celebrated love and freedom in the faces of leaders and nuclear bombs."

Do you think the series presents Iran in a positive and authentic way?

"There is no TV series that can represent an entire country and culture, in all their nuances. However, we have tried to get as close as possible to the truth. The series digs into issues that are at the core of Iranian society today, it tries to be fair and still not deviate too much from the truth for drama.

"Iran is a very mysterious country for the Israelis, but the same is true to the contrary. It is as if a cloud of mystery separates the two countries that works in both directions. In the set of the series in Athens, when the Iranian extras met the Israeli guys, they immediately spread their hands to the sides. "Smile and say 'we are not enemies, we are friends'".

The "Tehran" plot features, among other things, young Iranians at a stormy nature party. Is this a popular reality there?

"It's not that rare, contrary to what you might expect to hear. Obviously if you're Iranian, it might be scary to decide to take drugs, drink alcohol and go out to nature parties, but that fear doesn't stop people from living life. Iran is not a conservative country that much. It allows a lot of self-expression, and despite the conservative-religious rule, it is still a relatively Western country.

"I think the internet has a part in this, because it connects people who have realized that the similarities between us all are much bigger than we thought and what made us think. These are the politicians who hate each other and incite this hatred. We, the simple people, do not exactly care. We just want To have fun and laugh together, to check what we are similar to and what our common foods are. "

On his right arm is a tattoo that represents the map of Iran, and according to him, it symbolizes for him a change in his relationship with his country of origin. "Because I knew there was no way I could return to Iran after 'Tehran,' I wanted this tattoo for myself. It also suited the character I played very well. Milad is in love with his country, and I love my country too.

"I did the tattoo without telling anyone. I posed with him on the set on the first day of filming and showed it to director Sirkin. He thought for a second and said 'I love, it works.'"

****

The social distance restrictions of the corona were exploited for a kind of mental reckoning. "I was not bothered by thoughts about jobs, work or money. I chose to spend my quarantine days in the apartment I rent alone. I was alone for about six weeks, thinking about things. I realized that for a long time I felt meaningless. I wondered what happiness meant, I looked for answers. I did not. I can say that I found it, but I realized that self-satisfaction is within us and comes from within. "

The heated affair between the Israeli Mossad agent and the romantic Iranian student ignited the viewers of the series. "I love Niv and really miss her. I wish I could be by her side in Israel now," he admits, and a shy smile comes over his face as he talks about Niv Sultan, his TV partner.

"Niv is a superhuman woman. It's amazing what she did in 'Tehran.' I keep telling her, 'You're my favorite actress in the world right now.'

"There were some of our common scenes, which I found myself freezing and staring at in which she was playing. I would have been confused and ruined the scene because I was mesmerized by how well she played. I would not have been able to do what I did in the series without her."

How is her Persian accent? Authentic enough?

"I swear to you that to this day I am shocked by her. It is not that she had small scenes in Persian. She had to go through pages full of this language, and she seems to have connected with the words and managed to express her feelings well. Iranians who saw her really liked it."

In reality, would you go out with an Israeli, or be swept away with her on an adventure like in the series?

"Yes, of course. And I'm free."

What reactions did you get from Iran about the series?

"The series has not yet spread in Iran, because the Internet is blocked, but I have received supportive messages from secular Iranians who have watched and liked it. Listen, it's not that I'm in touch with a lot of Iranians. I think I talk to Israelis a lot more. For the most part, Israelis are very supportive and love me.

"I received all kinds of messages on Instagram. People invite me to meals, it's very nice, and I look forward to fulfilling all these orders. I want to get to family Shabbat meals in Israel and finally taste Israeli food."

Do you have plans to arrive soon?

"I will come one hundred percent, when it is possible and open the sky. I hope it will happen very soon. I must see your country because the reactions that come to me from there are so loving. In the series Millad works to build the bridge between the worlds, and I feel it is also part of my mission - Visit Israel and open a conversation and dialogue between the peoples, to connect and reveal our cultures.

"The Middle East is a very complex area, perhaps the most complicated in the world, and building cultural bridges is part of a big puzzle that we, as citizens, must put together together. A puzzle of world peace."

nirw@israelhayom.co.il

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2020-07-25

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