G.Myagmarnaran: A person can fly, but they should know where they are going to land

Mongolians are proud of our great culture, heritage and history. For this reason, Mongolians many Mongolians consider themselves history buffs, but one of the closest fields of studies to history, as it turns out, is performing arts as artists often have to play historical figures...

...If you have the love of the people, you have to put an end to your unlimited wants. Thus, I can’t live for only myself and I have been living with this mindset for a long time...

Mongolians are proud of our great culture, heritage and history. For this reason, many Mongolians consider themselves history buffs, but one of the closest fields of studies to history, as it turns out, is performing arts as artists often have to play historical figures.

One of the greatest artists to portray historical figures is People’s Artist G.Myagmarnaran. When asked if he could talk about history for an interview with us, the humble actor said, “I know nothing compared to historians.”

You may be wondering why we are asking you about history. Since you have played significant historical figures, you probably have done in depth research. We wanted respectable figures such as yourself to explain Mongolia’s incredible history to children and youth. These days, young Mongolians learn of the country’s history from foreign sources.

I sometimes think that historians and researchers should work together to intensively put all of Mongolia’s history into a document. Aside from being incredibly interesting, the history of Mongolia has many lessons within it. It is an incredible collective for the youth to learn, tie into modern times, seek within themselves their flaws, and look ahead to the future based on it.

A lot of foreigners claim that the great Mongol khaans were theirs such as Chinggis Khaan and Bat Khaan. On the surface, it may sound like an insult to us. In reality this is considered as an example of how we are losing our history.

The history of the Mongols is the history of the world. Mongolia has documented and stored 2200 years of the world’s history. So the tolgoi (head) of Mongolia is way larger than any other tolgois like Oyu Tolgoi or Tavan Tolgoi. The history is definitely richer too. So make a movie out of it. There are about 30 Mongol khaans that we are aware of. If you count the king of kings, their children and the divide amongst themselves, the Mongolian history can split into many, like the branches of a tree. Yet, we don’t know more than the 30 khaans.

There was an era of the baga (lesser) khaans. First, this subject has not been studied much. Second, it has interesting incidents where everyone wanted to be khaan so they pulled each other down. It seems as though this still exists until this day.

This is very true. The era of the baga khaans were like that. For that

reason, the power of the Mongolian state deteriorated and got swallowed up by the neighboring nations. We talk about this a lot, but we are not actually learning from them. The political parties of today talk about this and yet they are learning nothing. Of course there will be some disputes, but this is leading to the exact same thing happening again. It is like what happens in the tale of the snake with many heads.

Everybody sees Chinggis Khaan in their own way. I see him in my own way too, but my perception is limited because I see him in the way films depict him. Before the interview, I perceived the image of him in my head. I saw his image that is displayed in “The Secret History of Mongols”.

Everybody sees the image of a different khaan in their minds. I have seen a few dozen movies about Chinggis Khaan. All the perceptions that I’ve seen don’t seem to fit. Perhaps the closest portrayal of him in that fits my perception is Chinggis Khaan from “Munkh tengeriin khuchin dor” (Under the power of the eternal sky) Mongolian film. The actor A.Enkhtaivan suited the role perfectly I think.

Actually, I think about it in many ways. I have the feeling that he didn’t have a bulky body, tall stature and have an over sized head. Let’s think about the important historical figures that left their mark on humanity. Think of Napoleon. How tall do you think he was?

Maybe 168 or 170 cm.

He was a meter and 68 cm tall. Hitler also looked smaller than his officers too. It is common for productive people with great intellect to be short. I get the feeling that our Chinggis Khaan was like that too. The khaan raised all his younger brothers and made them into men. When you really think about it, the eldest son of a family is usually smaller. Chinggis Khaan was the eldest son. Like this, I think about unnecessary strange things a lot.

If we look at the history of the world, important people from the past and our average height, this is possible.

One time director B.Baljinnyam put me in a checkmate and shut my mouth. “Why did you have A.Enkhtaivan play the role of Chinggis Khaan. He has a weak voice which Chinggis can’t have had. Have somebody else do the voice,” I said. B.Baljinnyam replied, “You are right. I made a mistake. You are someone who was with Chinggis Khaan so you probably know that his voice was deep. Right?”

This really made me understand that we shouldn't be really concerned with physical traits. The main thing is the legacy of his mind. I think people should watch “Munkh tegeriin khuchin dor”.

You spoke of the movie as an excellent movie. When watching this movie at an early age and now gives us a completely different feeling and we see the hidden large message of it. Is it a well thought out movie?

Yes, this is the idea of the movie.

Director B.Baljinnyam told me himself that people will understand this movie after many years. We always want something that belongs to others and think less of our own things. We are greedy and we think that others have it better than us. This makes us strange. Maybe I am a stubborn person but I always think “why not” and “why is this not right”, about everything. Every time I do this, I think about the spectrum of the movie and I understand, but not everybody has to be like me.

The way you put words is clever and wise. For instance, you said that a horse laughing sounds like flood water splashing. Your words have had a great impact on us. How do you think young people take your words?

People can think whatever they want. I tell young people to read and I annoy them a lot by saying that. They need to charge their brains with books and develop their perception of the world. I am about to say something controversial again. It is common for people my age to have a wall full of books and tell people that this is my head. I am not sure if they have read it all or not. Young people don’t have to read everything but should read things that are useful to them.

People may not read this interview that I gave thinking that Myagmarnaran is saying some irrelevant and unnecessary things.

The people respect you and listen to your words. Is it difficult to carry the respect of so many people?

The easiest thing to do is to gain the trust of people. Somehow you can

get it by carrying their bag for them perhaps. The most difficult thing to do is carry the respect and admiration of people. Maybe I should remember this at night before I sleep and in the morning when I wake up. If one is valued by people, then they lose their individual life. By individual life I mean maybe drinking during Naadam with a friend and falling asleep on the grass. To be frank, sometimes I want to throw a few punches.

What if I want to divorce my wife and a beautiful woman is interested in me? What if I want to leave my children and live with her? This comes up in people’s lives, but I cannot let any of this happen because I am not only the son of Gombo. I became the son of the Mongolian people and they love me for the roles that I created.

If you have the love of the people, you have to put an end to your unlimited wants. Thus, I can’t live for only myself and I have been living with this mindset for a long time.

Do you have times when you wonder “Why do I have to live like this?” and become frustrated?

Everybody doesn’t have to become a rich person or be elected president. Everybody is on different paths of their own. There's something peculiar about people these days. They don't know who they are or who they are supposed to be. They all think that they should be on the top but everyone is different and they don’t know that. People can fly and people can live on the top but at one point or another, they will all go back.

Humans need to know where they are going to land before they fly. This is what our ancestors always taught us. It is a very good lesson.