Director: Amir Pourkian

Cast: Amir Jafari, Shahab Mozaffari, Bahareh Kian Afshar, Pantea Bahram, Nima Shabannejad

Khaneh Shishei is a 2021 Iranian drama-family film directed by Amir Pourkian, starring Amir Jafari as a celebrated pop singer whose life unravels when social media rumours and media scrutiny threaten everything he has built in the public eye.

What is Khaneh Shishei about?

At the height of his fame, a well-known pop singer finds himself caught in a storm of speculation and media pressure. Behind the polished persona lies a man whose emotional life and professional standing are far more fragile than his devoted audience suspects. When tabloid whispers begin circulating online, the boundary between his carefully curated public image and his private reality starts to crack. Those closest to him — family, colleagues, and a wider social circle — are drawn into the fallout, each forced to choose sides or reconsider what they thought they knew. The film maps the slow erosion of trust and identity under the relentless gaze of the digital age, asking how much of ourselves we can keep hidden and at what cost.

Cast & crew

Amir Jafari, one of Iranian cinema's most dependable leading men, anchors the film with a restrained performance that lets the character's contradictions speak quietly. Shahab Mozaffari and Bahareh Kian Afshar provide strong support, while Pantea Bahram brings depth to her role. The ensemble, which also includes Nima Shabannejad, Khatereh Asadi, Bahar Rezaei, and Behnam Abtahi, creates a believable social world around the central figure. Director Pourkian draws naturalistic work from his cast throughout.

Context & significance

For diaspora audiences who grew up watching Iranian pop culture evolve from cassette tapes to satellite channels to Instagram feeds, Khaneh Shishei lands with particular resonance. It captures a tension that feels distinctly modern yet rooted in Persian social dynamics: the weight of public expectation, the fragility of reputation, and the way rumour travels faster than truth. Family films with dramatic cores have a long tradition in Iranian cinema, and Pourkian situates this story firmly within that lineage while addressing the very contemporary reality of social media's reach. For viewers abroad who follow Persian-language celebrity news and feel the pull of that cultural world from a distance, this film offers a candid and empathetic portrait of what fame actually costs.

Where & how to watch

Khaneh Shishei is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. Watch on your browser, TV, or phone with no VPN needed and no geo-blocking. Subtitles are available; cancel anytime.