Director: Akbar Khajooiee

Cast: Shahab Hosseini, Elham Hamidi, Azita Hajian, Borzoo Arjmand, Mahsa Keramati

Mahya is a 2008 Iranian drama film directed by Akbar Khajooiee, starring Shahab Hosseini and Elham Hamidi. Set in the medical world of Tehran, it explores how an unexpected encounter between two young professionals reshapes both their lives in quiet but lasting ways.

What is Mahya about?

Javid, a young man training to become a doctor, carries an unusual anxiety about mortality that complicates his medical studies. At a funeral, he crosses paths with Mahya, a nurse at the same hospital where he is doing his residency. What begins as a chance meeting soon draws the two closer as their professional and personal worlds begin to overlap. The film follows their developing relationship against the backdrop of hospital life, charting how human connection can emerge from the most unlikely of circumstances. Khajooiee builds the story slowly, allowing the characters to reveal themselves through small gestures and everyday moments rather than dramatic incident.

Cast & crew

Shahab Hosseini, one of Iranian cinema's most recognized leading men, plays Javid with understated restraint. Elham Hamidi brings warmth and steadiness to the title character Mahya. The ensemble is rounded out by Azita Hajian, Borzoo Arjmand, Mahsa Keramati, Anoshirvan Arjmand, Maryam Boubani, and Marzie Khoshi-Tarash, all established names in Iranian film and television.

Context & significance

Mahya sits within the tradition of Iranian social dramas that focus on young urban professionals navigating modern life, a genre with a strong following among diaspora viewers who recognize its settings and emotional register. Director Akbar Khajooiee works in a realist mode common to Iranian cinema of the 2000s, placing character study above plot mechanics. For Persian-speaking audiences abroad, films like this serve as a window into everyday Tehran life — its hospitals, its social rituals, its quiet romances — offering a sense of connection to a world that feels both familiar and distant.

Where & how to watch

Mahya is available on K-Time with original Persian audio. Watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, cancel anytime.