Chap Rast is a 2023 Iranian comedy film directed by Hamed Mohammadi, blending slapstick family humor with sharp political satire. Two rival analysts — one from the left, one from the right — find their domestic worlds collide when a hospital mix-up swaps their newborns, forcing sworn ideological opponents to navigate family life across the political divide.
What is Chap, Rast about?
Two men who could not be further apart ideologically share one city, one hospital, and, as fate would have it, one fateful mix-up at the maternity ward. A staunch conservative commentator and a progressive analyst both become fathers on the same night. When a clerical error swaps their babies, neither family realizes the truth at first. As suspicions surface and the mistake unravels, both men must confront whether their firmly held worldviews can survive the chaos of actual family life — and whether the babies will ever return to their rightful homes. The film keeps its social comedy grounded in recognizable Tehran middle-class life while pushing each character's contradictions to warm, absurd extremes.
About the cast
Director Hamed Mohammadi, a screenwriter turned filmmaker whose credits include the script for Gold and Copper and the comedy Four Fingers, brings that mix of drama and humor to this feature project. Lead Rambod Javan is one of Iran's most recognizable TV hosts and comedic performers, widely known for his long-running satirical programs. Payman Ghasemkhani, the veteran comedy screenwriter behind The Lizard (Marmoulak), steps in front of the camera with sharp comedic timing, and Vishka Asayesh and Sara Bahrami bring grounded warmth to the mothers caught inside the mix-up.
Context & significance
Iranian family comedies occupy a beloved space in Persian cinema — they trade in recognizable domestic tensions, generational humor, and gently pointed social commentary without alienating mainstream audiences. Chap Rast enters a well-established lineage of films that use the family unit as a lens for political satire, a tradition that goes back decades in Iranian filmmaking. For diaspora viewers, the comedy lands on two levels: the universal absurdity of a hospital baby swap, and the very specific flavor of Tehran's ideological culture wars rendered as neighborhood farce. The casting of Rambod Javan — a figure with enormous popular recognition across the diaspora — gives the film immediate familiarity and guarantees its humor translates across borders.
Watching Chap, Rast on Ktime
Chap Rast is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. Watch it on the web at ktime.app, on your Android TV, or on your Android phone — no extra download required, no VPN, no geo-blocking. Start or cancel anytime.