Russia’s most unknown genius

The bacteriologist Vladimir Khavkin was called “the most unknown person” in Russia by his contemporary Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Meanwhile, this grandiose personality was admired by the whole world: it was Khavkin who created vaccines against plague and cholera.

The Russian premiere of the new film Mahatma Khavkin, written and directed by Anna and Galina Yevtushenko, took place in the engineering building of the Tretyakov Gallery. And the world premiere of the tape took place at the International Festival in Dhaka-2023. There, the picture received the prize “For the best documentary film”.

Our film reviewer talks with director Galina Yevtushenko.

— Galina, we have repeatedly written about your films from the cycle “Double portrait in the interior of the era”. Famous personalities became their heroes. But this time you made a film about “the most unknown person” in Russia, according to Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Your tape tells about the events that took place at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, but at the same time, the tape is incredibly relevant. Everything about her is amazing. But what initially hooked you when you encountered this material?

— The work of “the most unknown person in Russia”, the outstanding bacteriologist Vladimir Aronovich Khavkin, was reflected in the fate of each of us. And we don’t know anything about him. In August 1899, Chekhov answered his publisher Alexei Suvorin. He, with obvious anxiety, asked Dr. Chekhov what to do if the plague invaded Petersburg. The disease by that time had already struck India and was seen in some places in Europe. Is there a cure for the “black death”? Is it possible to escape in a big city?

“The plague is not very terrible…” Chekhov wrote to him in response. We already have vaccinations that have proven to be effective. By the way, we owe them to the Russian doctor Khavkin. In Russia, this is the most unknown person. In England, he has long been called a great philanthropist. The biography of this man is really remarkable.”

– In India, Vladimir Khavkin was called “Mahatma Khavkin”, which means “great soul” …

– And no wonder: according to the results of his activities in India, which lasted about 20 years, he saved more than 33 million people from death.

By the way, interest in his activities in the world is growing every day. And his experience, especially in our days, in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, is invaluable. This is what our film is about.

– The audience will find out how Vladimir ended up in Paris with the world-famous scientist Louis Pasteur, why he, a graduate, agreed to the position of a simple librarian … there are many interesting details.

– His life is really full of unusual circumstances, Khavkin has been to Paris, London, Calcutta, Bombay, Jerusalem. But how did it originally get from Russia to India? For what merits did he gain fame as a great philanthropist? Why those who he tried to save his life wanted to kill him for are the main twists and turns of the film.

— Is it true that in Mumbai there is still a Bacteriological Institute named after Khavkin?

– Truth. In a report for 1930, the year Khavkin died, we read: “Our institute owes its existence to the genius of Vladimir Khavkin,” wrote the Indian professor Naidu. – He gave the best years of his life to the fight against such disasters in India as cholera and plague; he saved a huge number of inhabitants from devastating infections by applying preventive vaccinations. India mourned the loss of this man.”

“The picture also contains curious details of the contradictory assessment of the scientist by his compatriots …

– The circumstances of his life really raise new and new questions. Chekhov, for example, reports the Indians’ fear of the bacteriologist. And the scientist from Bombay is about the deep love that the doctor from Russia deserved from the peoples of India. Who is right? What is the cost of saving 33 million Indians from dangerous diseases?

We were sure that it would be interesting for the audience to follow along with the film crew through Russia, France, England, India, Israel, admiring the great biography of Mahatma Khavkin.

— In addition, your film is made by amazing means…

– We decided that it would be interesting if Khavkin himself tells about the events of his life in the first person – about childhood, youth, acquaintance with Mechnikov. About how he, who was nicknamed “the bomber”, became an outstanding scientist. About what you need to have in order to become the person whose achievements save the whole world. We tried to tell his story clearly, piercingly, so that the picture tightly held the attention of the audience. It contains a lot of music and unique newsreel telling about life at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia, France, India, and England. So we again plunge into the interior of that era.

Elena Bulova.

Photos from the film provided by director Galina Yevtushenko