Director: Saber Rahbari
Cast: Reza Beyk Imanverdi, Jamileh, Ali Miri, Manoel Marotian, Parvin Soleymani
Kaj Kolaah Khaan is a 1973 Iranian drama-thriller film directed by Saber Rahbari, starring Reza Beyk Imanverdi in a dual role. Set in an urban landscape of crime and mistaken identity, the film weaves together pursuit, deception, and moral consequence in the classic mold of pre-revolution Iranian popular cinema.
What is Kaj Kolaah Khaan about?
A young villager named Karim — nicknamed Kaj Kolah Khan — leaves his rural home and his elderly mother behind and heads to the city seeking a new life. By chance he crosses paths with a dangerous criminal called Javanshir, who happens to be his physical double. Javanshir, already hunted by a seasoned detective named Seyyed Ali Gilani, immediately sees an opportunity: he plants Karim in situations designed to throw the police off his trail and onto an innocent man. Pulled deeper into a web of manipulation he did not choose, Karim must find a way to prove who he really is before Javanshir's scheme destroys him. Meanwhile Javanshir pressures a woman named Star, who is indebted to him, into becoming part of his plan — complicating the moral stakes for everyone involved.
Cast & crew
Reza Beyk Imanverdi carries the film in the demanding double role of both Karim and Javanshir, a showcase of his range as one of pre-revolution Iranian cinema's most recognizable leading men. Jamileh appears as Star, and veteran character actor Ali Miri brings authority to the tenacious detective Seyyed Ali Gilani. Parvin Soleymani and Siamak Atlasi round out the ensemble in key supporting parts.
Context & significance
Made in 1973, Kaj Kolaah Khaan belongs to the golden era of commercial Iranian cinema — a period when studios produced genre films that blended Hollywood thriller mechanics with distinctly Iranian social settings: the migrant arriving in the city, the criminal underworld, and the honest man trapped by fate. For diaspora viewers, this film is a direct window into the popular culture their parents and grandparents watched in Tehran cinemas before the revolution. Its double-identity plot — a staple of world thriller cinema — is told here with local textures, street-level Tehran atmosphere, and performers who were household names across Iran. Watching it today connects diaspora audiences to a shared cultural memory that has not dated.
Where & how to watch
Kaj Kolaah Khaan is available on K-Time. The film plays in its original Persian-language audio. Watch on the web browser, your television, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and no extra download required. Cancel your membership anytime.