Instead, as a privately produced TV series, it has been licensed and approved by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, leading most experts to believe that under President Hassan Rohani, the rules are being relaxed.
“Shahrzad” is not being aired on any of the state TV channels, which means it is not under the purview of the state broadcaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB). Set in the Shah era, when Iran was ruled by Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the series features a number of scenes that remain taboo in the Islamic Republic, including women singing, playing musical instruments and partying with men in a Tehran of yore, where alcohol flows freely, cabarets are doing brisk business and cinemas are screening the latest Hollywood blockbuster.Įven more surprising for Iranian audiences, these seemingly “un-Islamic” scenes in “Shahrzad” are depicted with value-free finesse, minus the moralising and hectoring that invariably accompanies such scenes on state TV channels. But the historic events shaking the country that fateful decade intervene to ensure the lovers will not get their “happily ever after” moment – at least not so far. Shahrzad, a pretty medical student, meets Farhad, a journalist, in Tehran in the early 1950s.
The storyline of “Shahrzad”, a new TV series making waves in Iran, is hardly provocative. It’s the sort of content that has many Iranians questioning whether the censors did not realise the significance of the series or if the state’s red lines are dramatically shifting. But for a local Iranian TV series, licensed and approved by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, this is edgy stuff. The scene seems innocent enough by international TV standards. Over a sumptuous tea party complete with plates of pastries, fruit and jugs of chilled tea, a woman plays a tambour as the female guests around the table sing, clap their hands to the beat and ululate joyfully.
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