Director: Nosrat Karimi

Cast: Nosrat Karimi, Shahla Riahi

Doroshkeh Chi is a 1971 Iranian drama-comedy-romance film directed by and starring Nosrat Karimi, following a former carriage driver navigating modern Tehran and the rekindled possibility of a love that circumstance once forced aside.

What is Doroshkeh Chi about?

Years ago, two young people fell for each other but parted ways and built separate lives with other spouses. Now both have lost their partners, and the man — once a horse-drawn carriage driver who eventually made the leap to driving a taxi — finds himself living near the woman he never forgot. The city around them has changed enormously, but the feelings between them have not faded. As they slowly rediscover each other, everyday pressures, family expectations, and the weight of the past test whether second chances are real or merely a comfort the heart invents for itself. The film unfolds at the unhurried pace of the Tehran streets its hero navigates, blending warm humor with genuine emotional stakes.

Cast & crew

Nosrat Karimi, one of Iranian cinema's most distinctive actor-directors of the pre-revolutionary era, both helmed the film and played the lead role, bringing an insider's naturalism to the carriage-driver-turned-cabbie character. Shahla Riahi, a celebrated actress of classic Iranian cinema, portrays the woman at the center of the rekindled romance, lending the film its emotional grounding and quiet charisma.

Context & significance

Released in 1971, Doroshkeh Chi belongs to the rich wave of popular Iranian comedies and social dramas that documented Tehran's rapid modernization — a city where horse-drawn carriages were genuinely still a memory of only one generation back. For diaspora viewers, the film carries an added layer: it captures the streets, sounds, and social textures of a Tehran that no longer exists in the same form, making it as much a document of a lost era as a love story. The blend of comedy with sincere romantic longing was a signature of this period's commercial cinema, and Karimi was among its most reliable craftsmen.

Where & how to watch

Doroshkeh Chi is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. Watch it on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and no extra download required. Start a subscription and cancel anytime.