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Branko Đurić
Bosnian actor, comedian, film director and musician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Branko Đurić (Cyrillic: Бранко Ђурић; born 28 May 1962), commonly known by his nickname Đuro (Cyrillic: Ђуро), is a Bosnian[1] actor, comedian, film director and musician who lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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Born and raised in Sarajevo, Đurić rose to prominence in Yugoslavia during the 1980s due to his appearance on the comedy series Top lista nadrealista. He was also one of the founding members of the band SCH and the frontman of the award-winning Sarajevo rock band Bombaj Štampa.[2] In August 1992, several months into the Bosnian War, he moved to Slovenia, where he has resided since.
He starred in the Academy Award-winning film No Man's Land and held supporting roles in numerous high-profile films, including The Smell of Quinces, Time of the Gypsies, Kuduz, Bal-Can-Can, In the Land of Blood and Honey and See You in Montevideo. He also created the comedy series Naša mala klinika, which spawned a franchise with Slovenian, Croatian, and Serbian adaptations.
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Early life
Branko Đurić was born on May 28, 1962, to a Serb father from Kruševac and a Bosniak mother, Fadila.[3] When he was one year old, his father died of cancer.[4]
At the age of fourteen, his widowed mother married painter Branislav "Branko" Popovac, who encouraged Đurić to pursue his artistic talents.[5]
Đurić completed his secondary education at the First Sarajevo Gymnasium, graduating in 1980. In 1981, he applied to the Academy of Performing Arts (ASU), a newly established faculty within the University of Sarajevo, but was rejected. Following the rejection, he enrolled in journalism studies at the University of Sarajevo's Faculty of Political Sciences.
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Career
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Đurić initially started working as an extra in various TV Sarajevo productions. He also continued applying at the ASU and, after two more rejections in 1982 and 1983, he was accepted on his fourth try in 1984. Once accepted at the ASU, he quit his journalism studies.
Early acting roles
In April 1984, Đurić became involved with Top lista nadrealista, TV Sarajevo's newly-launched prime time television show overlapping folk music with sketch comedy. Made by a group of Sarajevo youths from the New Primitivism sub-cultural milieu, the sketches were framed as comedy fillers in-between folk music performances by top local folk music stars. Before Top lista nadrealista, the group had been putting out a 15-minute weekly radio segment airing as part of the Saturday morning Primus program on Radio Sarajevo's channel two.
While Top lista nadrealista was being shot, Đurić also played a small role in the music video for New Primitivist band Zabranjeno Pušenje's song "Neću da budem Švabo u dotiranom filmu" from their debut album. The video was produced by TV Sarajevo.[6] At the video shoot, Đurić confided to the director, Ademir Kenović, about his challenges getting accepted at the ASU. Kenović responded by connecting Đurić with film director Vuk Janić to help him prepare material for another audition, which resulted in Đurić being accepted for the fall 1984 academic year.
In the meantime, from early June 1984, Top lista nadrealista television episodes started airing on TV Sarajevo's second channel. Early reactions were indifferent, but after a few episodes, the sketches started gaining popularity. By now known to the wider public by his nickname Đuro, Đurić played multiple characters. His portrayal of a jumpy TV station security guard with the catchphrase "Ćega, ba" getting the most attention. The show's popularity, as well as its focus on folk music, led to everyone in the group receiving offers from local promoters and managers, such as Rizo Rondić, to perform sketch comedy at live shows and tours through Bosnian towns and villages.
Đuro and colleague Zenit Đozić took many of those offers throughout the second part of 1984, cashing in on their Nadrealisti prominence by performing as comic relief[7] on folk music tours named "Udri kapom o ledinu", "Zasviraj i za pojas zadjeni", "Prođoh Bosnu pjevajući", etc.[8]
From late 1984 and into 1985, Đuro participated in Audicija, a no-frills stage comedic production that began as an academic project consisting of Academy of Stage Arts (ASU) students creating, developing, and performing characters based on various individuals applying to the academy. Conceptualized as a series of one-on-one auditions between each applicant and a professor, with students drawing upon their own auditioning experiences, the production gained prominence after one of its stage shows was filmed and broadcast on TV Sarajevo's Noćni program.[9] Đuro's streetwise Sarajevan, Solomon Bičakćić, performed alongside fellow academy students: Željko Ninčić; Admir Glamočak; Emir Hadžihafizbegović; Haris Burina; Saša Petrović; Jasmin Geljo; Željko Kecojević; Senad Bašić; and Mladen Nelević. Though drawing mostly poor reviews from the critics, Đurić performed in 150 stagings of the show across Yugoslavia before quitting.[9] Subsequent ASU generations would also start performing the show and taking it on the road across the country.
Continuing his comedic everyman persona, Đuro, an ASU student, starred in a series of television commercials shot in early 1985 for the local tourist board in Sarajevo—promoting tourism on Jahorina and Bjelašnica mountains around the city—with recycled folksy catchphrase from Audicija, "Joj razlike, drastićne", delivered in heavy Sarajevan accent as somewhat of a punchline.[9][10][11] At first, the commercials—directed by Đurić's old friend and professional collaborator Ademir Kenović and produced by Ismet "Nuno" Arnautalić with Goran Bregović providing the music—aired somewhat infrequently.[9] However, they would soon gain further significance due to their jingle-like, Bregović-composed tune (featuring Đuro's vocal singing about the mountains) getting made into a full-length track called "Hajdemo u planine" ('Let's Go to the Mountains') on Bijelo Dugme's (Bregović's band) next studio album Pljuni i zapjevaj moja Jugoslavijo released in November 1986, this time sung by the band's vocalist Alen Islamović.[12] With the song in heavy radio rotation and the album selling well, the commercials also began airing a lot more frequently, leading to a surge of popularity for Đurić throughout late 1986 and early 1987.[9] Due to Bregović's habit of reusing and recycling old material, the same tune would in 1992 also be sung by Iggy Pop as "Get the Money" on the Arizona Dream movie soundtrack.[13]
Also in 1985, while still in the first year of his ASU studies, the young actor got cast by Kenović for the leading role in Ovo malo duše TV drama film. It has a rural coming-of-age story written by Ranko Božić, with Đuro set to play the role of Ibrahim Halilović, a suddenly single father in a remote Bosnian village after his wife passes away. The movie was shot throughout 1986 and aired in January 1987 on TV Sarajevo. Ovo malo duše led to a few more dramatic roles on television for Đurić – in Znak series on TVSa and Vanja movie that aired on TV Novi Sad.
He also continued doing TV commercials – this time for Dedo and Nana coffee – going back to his, by now well established, "good-natured, streetwise Sarajevo guy" persona.[14]
Đuro then experienced a career breakthrough when Palm d'Or-winning director Emir Kusturica cast him in Dom za vešanje, the young actor's very first role in a feature film. The fact that this was Kusturica's first feature after his Palme d'Or-winning previous effort ensured plenty of attention for the project along with a Cannes showing. Though his part in the movie was minor (he played one of the Gypsy thugs in Italy), Đuro's performance was well-received and opened doors to further opportunities for the young actor.
Popularity in Yugoslavia
By 1989, a sought-after actor all over Yugoslavia, Đuro played a memorable supporting role in Kuduz, Kenović's feature film debut. He also participated in Kako je propao rokenrol (a three-story ensemble film by recent Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts graduates), playing the male lead in the third story opposite Vesna Trivalić about a young couple preparing for the arrival of their first baby.
In fall 1989, Top lista nadrealista's second series started airing, a 7-episode chunk that achieved huge viewership rates in addition to critical praise, all of which solidified Đuro's status in the country. Playing different comedic characters every week like street policeman Rade Pendrek, cranky average TV viewer Reuf, high-strung TV news director Đuđi, do-it-yourself 'Đurine kućne čarolije' segment host, etc. led to another huge wave of popularity for the actor.
Bosnian War and relocation to Slovenia
At the outbreak of Bosnian War during spring 1992 Đuro was in Sarajevo before fleeing the city in late August 1992, several months into the siege, and settling in Ljubljana.
He also works in Croatia, where he had a TV show Pet Minuta Slave (Five Minutes of Fame) on Nova TV, as well as the comedy series Naša mala klinika (Our Little Clinic), which was being aired on POP TV and Nova TV.
In the mid-2000s, Ðurić starred in and directed TV series Brat bratu, the Slovenian version of Only Fools and Horses. The series got cancelled after thirteen episodes due to poor viewership.
In February 2007, Ðurić has appeared on B92 television in Serbia in Ðurine žute minute short segments, a slightly different take on his "Ðurine kućne čarolije" sketch, which he performed on Top lista nadrealista. The segments, which had a commercial tie-in with Telekom Srbija's Žute strane (Yellow Pages), mostly received poor reviews and were quickly taken off the air.
In 2011, he played a Serbian soldier in the movie In the Land of Blood and Honey. This was Đurić's second movie about the Bosnian War. The first one was 2001 film No Man's Land. In it, Ðurić played Čiki, a Bosniak soldier.
Musical activity
In parallel with pursuing a career in the Yugoslav cinema and theatre, Đurić has been involved with bands, though his musical activity was mostly scheduled around his acting commitments.
In the early 1980s, still a teenager, he started in a band called Ševe with childhood friend Nedim Babović. Đurić then joined the post-punk / industrial rock outfit SCH in 1983, but soon transferred to Bombaj Štampa that had been established in the meantime by Babović, thus re-joining his old friend. As Đurić's acting career took off, the band also became more active, although their activity was always sporadic. In 1987, their eponymous debut album was released by Diskoton.
In December 2008, he reunited with Bombaj Štampa for a concert in Sarajevo featuring original guitarist Nedim Babović and drummer Dragan Bajić along with bassist Ernie Mendillo (The Brandos). More concerts followed and an album of new material was released in the spring of 2010.
On 25 July 2019, Đurić and his band Bombaj Štampa gave[15] a two-hour performance during Zenica summer fest 2019. Among other songs, they performed their new song called Čekić which was to appear on an album that was due to be released in September 2019, as well as one opera.[15]
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Personal life
Đurić married Slovenian actress and singer Tanja Ribič. [16] They have two daughters, Zala and Ela.[citation needed] From his first marriage, he has a son, Filip. He resides in Ljubljana, where he leads a production company Theatre 55.[citation needed]
Filmography
Film
Television
Stage
Voice-over dubs
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Discography
With Bombaj Štampa
- Bombaj Štampa (1987)
- Ja Mnogo Bolje Letim Sam (1990)
- Neka DJ Odmah Dole CJ (2010)
Awards and nominations
See also
References
External links
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