A joint production between Azerbaijanfilm and Mosfilm, Babek is the most expensive film produced in Azerbaijan SSR.

[1] It stars Rasim Balayev in the title role with Hasanagha Turabov playing Abbasid general Afshin.

[2] The film is based on the life of revolutionary leader Babak Khorramdin, whose rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate spread throughout Iran and Azerbaijan, spanning more than two decades.

However, the rebellion was suppressed with military force by Iranian general Haydar ibn Kawus al-Afshin.

The film depicts how Babak joins Khurramis, how he rises to the top of the movement, his struggle against various Arab commanders send from Baghdad, and lastly his capture and execution.

Since the filming took place during the grape harvest season, producers wanted to involve masses of locals as extras.

At this point, Heydar Aliyev, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan Communist Party, intervened.

Numerous factories donated swords, shields, and other necessary weapons to the creative team free of charge.

Rasim Balayev, who later received the title People's Artist of Azerbaijan SSR, played Babak.

Just imagine that in 50 degrees Celsius heat, the foreheads of the horses were covered with wet towels to protect them from the sun.

Following the Russian colonial rule, powers of the clerical establishment were severely restricted and unlike the rest of the Muslim world, secular intellectuals had a chance to publish and proselytize their own works.

The secularization process continued during the Soviet period as well, and this can explain why identifying with a figure like Babak does not bear inherent conflict for most Muslim Azerbaijanis.

In the movie the rebellion is not motivated by religious factors; the conflict portrayed has its seeds in patterns of property ownership and nationalism.

Many Azerbaijani scholars assert that during this period the population of the region was Turkic, hence different from the rest of Iran.

This is objectively false as the Turkic migrations to the region occurred in the 11th century due to the Seljuq Turks conquests.

He was also portrayed as a member of a society that was close to the poor; he helped those seeking salvation, and became the heroic son of the people."