Georgian Vakhtang Kikabidze, legend of Soviet cinema and variety, is dead

Vakhtang Kikabidze at the Laima Rendezvous festival in Jurmala (Latvia), in 2017. © Okras / Wikimedia Commons

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Nicknamed "Bouba" in the four corners of what was the USSR, Vakhtang Kikabidze was one of the sacred monsters of Soviet Georgian cinema and the author of hits that have remained famous.

He died on Sunday January 15 in his hometown of Tbilisi, at the age of 84.

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With our correspondent in Tbilisi,

He had been awarded the title of "People's Artist of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Georgia" in 1980. A consecration obtained after a decade which saw Vakhtang Kikabidze burst the screen, in comedies in particular, and more particularly with the 1977 filming of

, by fellow countryman Gueorgui Danielia.

In this hilarious and tender film in the form of a hymn to Georgia and its mountains, Vakhtang Kikabidze also performs "Chito Grito Chito Margalito", a song still sung today in the four corners of what was the USSR.

His status, attested by the installation in 1999 of a star in his name on the place of the stars in Moscow, led him to play on his notoriety to denounce the murderous policy of Vladimir Putin.

After the Russo-Georgian war of 2008, he decided not to return to Russia.

He then strongly condemned the war in Ukraine in 2014.

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