Radoslav (Lale) Pavlović (Serbian: Радослав Павловић; born 8 September 1954, in Aleksandrovac, Serbia[1][2]) is a Serbian writer. Pavlovic authored numerous theatre plays and film/TV scripts popular with the audience and acclaimed by the critics. He is best known for his theatre plays Šovinistička farsa, performed more than a thousand times across ex-Yugoslavia, Mala, and Moja Draga performed for hundreds of times in Belgrade theaters, as well as movies Balkan Rules (1997), Living like the rest of us (1983),[3]Hajde da se volimo 3 (1990) featuring ex-Yugoslavia mega-star Lepa Brena, and TV series Moj Rodjak sa Sela (2008) scoring record viewership of over 3 million viewers per episode.[4][5]
Pavlović's first play, Savremenik, attracted the eye of theatre professionals in Serbia. As a result, the play was presented at the festival Sterijino pozorje 1979.[11] and Pavlović was distinguished as the most promising young playwright. Not much later Pavlović wrote his first major theatre play Šovinistička farsa that had four sequels from 1985 to 1998 and was performed for more than 1800[12] times (the first sequel being performed 1200 times), with main actors Predrag Ejdus and Josif Tatić. The play received several awards, including the Best script award at 11th Satire days (Croatian: Dani satire) in Zagreb, 1986,[13] and remains one of Pavlović's best-known theatre plays.[citation needed]
After Šovinistička farsa, Pavlović continued to write plays for Belgrade theatres, such as Braća po oružju, Život Jovanov[14] or Mala (performed for 173 times, and seen by 57 376 people[15] and later adapted to a movie The Little One).[citation needed]
This led to a peak of his theatre career in late '80s and early '90s when the audience could simultaneously see five of his plays in theatres at the same time (Muke po Živojinu, Šovinistička farsa, Mala, Čaruga, and U potrazi za izgubljenom srećom). Due to popular demand some plays had to be performed more than once a day (such as the play Moja Draga).[citation needed]
At the beginnings of his career, Pavlović worked as editor at the national television, Radio Television of Serbia, and gave up this job to focus on his writing career that took off with popularity of his work with the audience. He went back to Radio Television of Serbia as deputy Editor in Chief of the Cultural and Educational Programme in 2009.
I accepted the position of deputy chief editor of cultural and educational programs ... Since I went bankrupt due to the series, which was written three and a half years, and to ensure its filming I had to do a great deal of lobbying, hence I almost lived at the RTS at the time trying to connect people ... When I complained to the Director-general himself that as a freelance artist for 20 years I managed to go bankrupt, he said: "Do you want a job?" I thought about it and said, "Yes, thank you." Otherwise, as a young writer in the 80s I was hired by RTS and was there for nine years. The last thing I did was to sign the filming of a series of Balkan Express by Gordan Mihić, directed by Gaga Antonijević. Then, from the need to have all the time in the world for yourself and writing, I terminated my employment and became a free artist. Twenty years later, I returned to my home.
Since March 2008, Pavlović is a member of Serbian Progressive Party, and the president of the Party's Culture Council.[2] About his reasons for starting a political career Pavlović said for Glas javnosti:
The entry into politics was a classic gesture of self-defense. Since I wrote about things as I see them and had some success, colleagues are eager to retire me. One of my plays was released in 1995, was called "Comedy Beograd", and provoked the general anger of the whole town and all political parties, from SPO to SPS. Since then I have watched my disciplined colleagues become theatre managers and directors of different things, ministers ... From March last year, when at the age of 54 I joined the Serbian Radical Party, many journalists have asked me why. But no one asked why I was the last one to join any party. So, because we have become a party state, and being from Šumadija I could only choose national party. When it came to splitting the party, I was terribly happy, because I'm in the party that fits me and where I have someone to talk to, and where there is someone to hear me. Our goal is to create an environment in which culture will speak critically of all phenomena, and in which decision about plays that get to be performed are not made based on one's the membership in the party ... install the ambiance of the right to be different.
— Radoslav Pavlović, Glas javnosti 26th of April 2009.
From 2017 he serves as Director of the Cultural Centre of Serbia in Paris.[10] From 2012 to 2017, he served as advisor to the Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić.[6][2][7] He briefly served as President of the board of the National Theatre in Belgrade but resigned in 2013.[17]
Notable works
Films
Pavlović wrote scripts for many popular movies of Serbian and ex-Yugoslavian culture.[4]
Due to its cult status and reception with the audience, this move is (even 25 after its first airing), still systematically replayed on TV[18] especially around New Year.
The play was performed more than 1800 times across the country (then Yugoslavia)[12] Radoslav Pavlović received an award for Best script at 11th Satire days (Croatian: Dani satire) in Zagreb, 1986.[13]
The play was a great commercial success, and has been performed for more than 300 times in a timespan of 100 days. The management of the theatre then removed the play from the programme due to overwhelming popularity. The crew composed of actors such as Dragan Bjelogrlić, Nikola Kojo, Dubravka Mijatović and Branka Katić performed the play for free, on the square in front of the theatre, and the play then moved to another theatre Zvezdara Teatar.
