Director: Pejman Cheshmi
Cast: Zoheir Yari, Behnoush Bakhtiari, Sorayya Ghasemi, Solmaz Hesari, Narges Mohammadi
Man Madaram is a 2023 Iranian drama film directed by Pejman Cheshmi, running 88 minutes and exploring the agonizing intersection of long-awaited motherhood and a life-threatening illness. With a cast led by Zoheir Yari and Behnoush Bakhtiari, the film asks what a woman owes to the child she has longed for and the body that carries them both.
What is Man Madaram about?
Maryam has spent seven years longing for a child. When pregnancy finally arrives, it brings not only joy but an unexpected and crushing diagnosis: leukemia. Her doctors, her family, and everyone around her are consumed by the urgent question of how to save her life. Yet the choice before Maryam is devastatingly personal — chemotherapy may protect her, but it threatens the pregnancy she fought so hard to reach. Torn between two futures, she must decide which love she can bear to risk. The film follows her and those closest to her through the weight of that impossible position, never letting the audience look away from what it truly costs to hope.
Cast & crew
Director Pejman Cheshmi brings a restrained, observational hand to this family drama. Zoheir Yari and Behnoush Bakhtiari anchor the emotional core, while Sorayya Ghasemi, Solmaz Hesari, Narges Mohammadi, Nima Shahrokh Shahi, and Reza Ahadi fill out a cast that keeps the story grounded in recognizable, everyday grief rather than melodrama.
Context & significance
Iranian family dramas have long used the domestic sphere to explore larger social and ethical questions, and Man Madaram sits firmly in that tradition. Stories centered on women navigating illness, reproduction, and societal expectation carry particular resonance for diaspora viewers who often carry the emotional memory of Iranian family life alongside the pressures of life abroad. This film speaks to the weight of unspoken choices, the way families rally and fracture under crisis, and the specific loneliness of a woman whose body becomes a site of competing needs. For Persian-speaking audiences anywhere in the world, that emotional register is immediately familiar.
Where & how to watch
Man Madaram is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. No VPN is needed and there is no geo-blocking — watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone. Subscription is flexible with no long-term commitment; cancel anytime.