Branko Đurić

1984–1985: Early roles: Top lista nadrealista, Audicija, and TV ads

During April 1984, while contemplating giving the ASU yet another try, Đurić joined 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 Đurić had already been on friendly terms with, the sketches were framed as comedy fillers in-between folk music performances by top local folk music stars. Joining the sketch comedy group that had already been performing weekly on radio for 3 years, young Đurić immediately proved a good fit as they began showcasing their talents in front of a large JRT national television audience in Yugoslavia.

While filming Top lista nadrealista, Đurić made a brief appearance in a TV Sarajevo-produced, Ademir Kenović-directed music video for the New Primitive band Zabranjeno Pušenje's track "Neću da budem Švabo u dotiranom filmu".^[6] During filming, Đurić mentioned his challenges in getting accepted at the ASU to Kenović who responded by connecting him with film director Vuk Janić, who in turn helped Đurić prepare material for another audition that would result in Đurić being accepted for the fall 1984 academic year.^{[citation needed]}

In the meantime, from early June 1984, episodes of Top lista nadrealista began airing on TV Sarajevo's second channel. Đurić played multiple characters, most prominently a jumpy TV station security guard with the catchphrase "Ćega, ba". The show's popularity and focus on folk music led to the cast receiving offers from local promoters and managers, including Rizo Rondić, to perform sketch comedy at live shows and tours across Bosnia.^[7] Đurić and his colleague Zenit Đozić accepted many of these offers throughout 1984, performing as comic relief on folk music tours including "Udri kapom o ledinu", "Zasviraj i za pojas zadjeni" and "Prođoh Bosnu pjevajući".^[8]

From late 1984 and into 1985, Đurić participated in Audicija, a chamber play-like comedic staging that began as an academic project consisting of 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 the recording of one of its stage shows was broadcast as part of TV Sarajevo's Noćni program.^[9] Performing alongside fellow students Željko Ninčić [sr], Admir Glamočak [sr], Emir Hadžihafizbegović, Haris Burina [sr], Saša Petrović, Jasmin Geljo, Željko Kecojević [bs], Senad Bašić, and Mladen Nelević [sr], Đurić's streetwise Sarajevan character, Solomon Bičakćić, proved to be among the more popular characters from the show. Despite a generally poor critical reception, Audicija's folksy humour nevertheless became a comedy smash hit throughout Yugoslavia, with Đurić performing in 150 of its stagings across the country before quitting and even somewhat distancing himself from the show in subsequent interviews.^[9]

Taking advantage of the sudden popularity of his comedic everyman persona, Đurić, still an ASU student, starred in a series of television ads shot in early 1985 for the Sarajevo tourist board—promoting Jahorina and Bjelašnica mountains as tourist destinations—with recycled folksy catchphrase from Audicija, "Joj razlike, drastićne", delivered as somewhat of a punchline in heavy Sarajevan accent.^[9][10][11] At first, the commercials—directed by Đurić's old friend and professional collaborator Ademir Kenović and produced by Ismet "Nuno" Arnautalić [bs] with Goran Bregović providing the music—aired infrequently.^[9] However, they would soon gain further significance once their jingle-like tune (composed by Bregović & featuring vocals by Ðurić) got spun by Bregović into a full-length track called "Hajdemo u planine" ('Let's Go to the Mountains') on Bijelo Dugme's 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 old material, the same tune was performed in 1992 by Iggy Pop with different lyrics, titled "Get the Money" for the soundtrack of Arizona Dream.^[13]

1987–1989: Early dramatic roles

Also in 1985, while still in the first year of his ASU studies, Ðurić was cast by Kenović for the leading role in the television drama Ovo malo duše. A rural coming-of-age story written by Ranko Božić [sr], Đurić portrayed Ibrahim Halilović, a newly widowed father in a remote Bosnian village. The movie aired on TV Sarajevo in January 1987. Ovo malo duše led to further dramatic roles for Đurić, including in the series Znak (aired on TV Sarajevo) and the film Vanja (on TV Novi Sad).

Ðurić 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]

Ðurić experienced a career breakthrough when Palme d'Or-winning director Emir Kusturica cast him in Dom za vešanje; Ðurić's first role in a feature film. As Kusturica's first feature film after his Palme d'Or-winning previous effort, the project received significant attention, as well as a screening at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.

1989–1992: Popularity in Yugoslavia

By 1989, Ðurić had appeared in several films and television productions across Yugoslavia. He played a supporting role in Kuduz, Kenović's feature film debut. He appeared in Kako je propao rokenrol, a three-story ensemble film by recent Belgrade Faculty of Dramatic Arts graduates, as the male lead in the third story, opposite actress Vesna Trivalić, about a young couple preparing for the arrival of their first baby.

In 1989, the second series of Top lista nadrealista aired, which was met with positive reception.^{[citation needed]} Ðurić played different comedic characters each week, including the policeman Rade Pendrek, the cranky television viewer Reuf, highly strung news director Đuđi, and do-it-yourself "Đurine kućne čarolije" segment host.

Bosnian War and relocation to Slovenia

Ðurić fled Sarajevo in August 1992, four months after the beginning of its besiegement at the outbreak of the Bosnian War. He settled in Ljubljana.

He also worked 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), aired on POP TV and Nova TV.

In the mid-2000s, Ðurić starred in and directed the sitcom Brat bratu, the Slovenian version of Only Fools and Horses, though it was cancelled after thirteen episodes due to poor viewership.

In February 2007, Ðurić 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, Ðurić played a Serbian soldier in the movie In the Land of Blood and Honey. This was Đurić's second movie about the Bosnian War, after No Man's Land.

Musical activity

Alongside his acting career in Yugoslav cinema and theatre, Đurić became involved in music starting in the early 1980s, when he formed a band, Ševe, with childhood friend Nedim Babović.^{[citation needed]}

Đurić briefly joined the industrial rock band SCH in 1983 before joining Babović's band Bombaj Štampa. Despite sporadic activity, Bombaj Štampa released their eponymous debut album under Diskoton in 1987.

Ðurić reunited with Bombaj Štampa in December 2008 for a concert in Sarajevo, alongside Nedim Babović, drummer Dragan Bajić, and bassist Ernie Mendillo. The band later released a new album in 2010.^{[citation needed]}

On 25 July 2019, Đurić and Bombaj Štampa performed for two hours at the Zenica Summer Fest, including the debut of Čekić, which was a new song that was due for release later that year in September, as well as an opera.^[15]

Film

Television

Stage

Voice-over dubs

With Bombaj Štampa

• Bombaj Štampa (1987)
• Ja Mnogo Bolje Letim Sam (1990)
• Neka DJ Odmah Dole CJ (2010)