Director: Masoud Kimiai

Cast: Ahmad Najafi, Golchehre Sajadieh, Shahed Ahmadlou, Shahed Ahmadlou

Goroohban is a 1992 Iranian action-drama film directed by Masoud Kimiai, centering on a war veteran's painful homecoming after years on the front. Clocking in at 86 minutes, the film examines how prolonged conflict leaves invisible wounds that no ceasefire can heal.

What is Goroohban about?

Sergeant Rostam Darre Kalaye returns from the Iran-Iraq War a changed man — physically intact but psychologically adrift. Back in his hometown in northern Iran, he discovers that life moved on without him. His wife Golbakht and their young son were forced to make do on their own, relying on the hospitality of Rostam's brother and his auto shop. The reunion that should feel joyful instead feels awkward, weighted by years of silence and hardship. Golbakht struggles to recognize the man who came back in the husband she once knew, and Rostam finds himself a stranger inside his own home, unable to bridge the distance that war has carved between them.

Cast & crew

Director Masoud Kimiai is one of Iranian cinema's most enduring voices, known for socially charged films rooted in working-class Tehran life. Ahmad Najafi leads as Sergeant Rostam, bringing a weathered restraint to a role that demands physical stillness while conveying interior turmoil. Golchehre Sajadieh portrays Golbakht with quiet dignity, and Shahed Ahmadlou rounds out the core family unit.

Context & significance

Goroohban arrived at a moment when Iranian cinema was beginning to process the full human cost of the eight-year war with Iraq. Rather than battlefield spectacle, Kimiai turns the camera inward — toward the domestic aftermath that official narratives rarely examined. For diaspora viewers who lived through that era or grew up hearing about it from relatives, the film resonates as an honest portrait of disrupted families and suppressed grief. It belongs to a tradition of socially realist Iranian drama that uses personal stories to reflect larger collective traumas, offering a window into post-war Iran that remains relevant decades later.

Where & how to watch

Goroohban is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. Stream it on your web browser, Android TV, or phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and no extra download required. Membership can be cancelled anytime.