Lutfikhanum Sarimsakova

Lutfikhanum Sarimsakova was born on 26 April (8 May new style) 1896 in the village of Oqyer in the Rishtan district of the Fergana region (according to other sources, in Rishtan itself), into a poor peasant family. Her choice of profession was strongly influenced by performances of Hamza's travelling troupe in Rishtan in the 1920s, which staged “The Rich Man and the Farmhand”, “The Tricks of Maysara” and “Secrets of the Paranja”.

She first took part in amateur performances and began her creative life in a women's circle in Kokand; from 1925 she appeared on the professional stage. In 1926–1928 she worked at the Kokand theatre, in 1928–1931 at the Andijan theatre and in 1931–1934 at the Fergana theatre (other sources say the Margilan theatre). From 1934 she was an actress of the Uzbek Musical Theatre in Tashkent and, after the theatre split in 1939, played at the Muqimiy Musical Drama Theatre until 1973. In 1939–1940 she organised and led an ensemble of women dutar players at the Uzbek State Philharmonic.

Her stage work followed two main lines: suffering mothers (Oysara in “Gulsara”, Kimyo in “Nurkhon”, the mother in “Halima”) and negative or satirical roles (the sorceress Yosuman in “Farhad and Shirin”, Mastura in “Secrets of the Paranja”). She also played Layli in “Layli and Majnun”, Shirin in “Farhad and Shirin”, Maysara in “The Tricks of Maysara”, Adelma in “Princess Turandot” and Zebo in “Arshin Mal Alan”. As a singer she performed folk songs, among them “Yor-yor”.

She appeared in films from 1931 (the unfinished “Azad”) and played mostly mothers in “The Oath” (1937), “Asal” (1940), “The Leader's Call” (1941), “The Fall of the Emirate” (1955), “Sacred Blood” (1956), “The Whole Mahalla Is Talking About It” (1960), “White, White Storks” (1966) and “Meetings and Partings” (1973). Her best-known role was Fatima-opa in “You Are Not an Orphan” (1962).

Sarimsakova became People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR in 1937 and People's Artist of the USSR on 3 February 1967. She received the Order of Lenin (1959), the Order of the October Revolution, the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1937) and the Order of Friendship of Peoples (1976). She was a Communist Party member from 1944 and a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR of the 5th and 6th convocations. A documentary about her life and work was made in 1976.

Lutfikhanum Sarimsakova died in Tashkent on 14 January 1991 and was buried at the Chigatay cemetery. In 2001 she was posthumously awarded the Order “For Outstanding Merit” (“Buyuk xizmatlari uchun”). A house of culture and School No. 52 in Rishtan bear her name.