Director: Rahim Behboudi Nia

Cast: Niusha Zeyghami, Bahareh Rahnama, Omid Rohani, Bijan Banafsheh'khah, Hadis Fouladvand

Hashtag is a 2019 Iranian comedy film directed by Rahim Behboudi Nia, following two strangers who stage a fake engagement to salvage their personal and professional lives, only to discover that pretending to be in love is far more complicated than either anticipated.

What is Hashtag about?

Millie and Leo are two people whose lives are quietly falling apart. When a chance encounter leads to an unlikely arrangement — a staged romantic relationship played out publicly for mutual benefit — both find themselves fielding unexpected attention from family, friends, and colleagues. As their performance gains an audience online and in person, the boundaries between what is real and what is performance begin to blur. Each brings hidden pressures and private struggles to the arrangement, and sustaining the fiction demands more honesty than either expected. The story unfolds as a warm, observational comedy that keeps its characters accountable to each other without letting them off easy.

Cast & crew

The film is directed by Rahim Behboudi Nia and features a cast drawn from Iranian television and cinema. Niusha Zeyghami and Bahareh Rahnama lead the picture, supported by Omid Rohani, Bijan Banafsheh'khah, Hadis Fouladvand, and Sadegh Jamshidi. Each brings familiarity with comic timing rooted in the rhythms of contemporary Tehran social life.

Context & significance

Iranian romantic comedies occupy a distinct space in Persian-language cinema — rooted in social observation, they frequently use the premise of a staged or inconvenient relationship to examine how reputation, family expectation, and digital visibility shape modern urban lives. Hashtag fits this lineage while updating it for the social-media era, where a public persona can take on a life of its own. For diaspora viewers who grew up navigating similar pressures between private reality and public performance, the film's comedy lands with a layer of recognition that extends beyond its Tehran setting.

Where & how to watch

Hashtag is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio with subtitles. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and no extra download required. Subscribe and cancel anytime.