Director: Mohammad Asgari
Cast: Tooraj Alvand, Anahita Afshar, Tinoo Salehi, Saeed Zarei, Saeed Dashti
Otaghake Geli is a 2023 Iranian drama-romance film directed by Mohammad Asgari, set against the turbulent backdrop of the Mersad military operation in August 1988. The film traces an intimate love story that unfolds within the chaos of one of the final, fiercest campaigns of the Iran-Iraq War.
What is Otaghake Geli about?
In the summer of 1988, as the Mersad operation rages across the western front, two people find themselves caught in an unlikely bond amidst the devastation. The story follows characters whose personal lives are fractured by the demands of conflict, yet who discover in each other a fragile reason to hold on. As frontline realities press closer and choices narrow, the film asks what survives when war strips away everything ordinary — and whether love can take root in soil that seems fit only for loss. The screenplay keeps its emotional focus tight without flinching from the historical weight of the period.
Cast & crew
Mohammad Asgari directs a cast anchored by Tooraj Alvand and Anahita Afshar in the central roles, supported by Tinoo Salehi, Saeed Zarei, and Saeed Dashti. Alvand is a veteran of Iranian dramatic productions and brings quiet credibility to the male lead, while Afshar lends the female role a grounded emotional presence that the wartime setting demands.
Context & significance
War-era love stories occupy a significant place in Iranian cinema, and Otaghake Geli draws on that tradition by using the Mersad operation — the last major ground offensive of the Iran-Iraq War — as its stage. For diaspora viewers who lived through or grew up hearing about those final months of 1988, the film carries particular resonance. It fits within a strand of Iranian war drama that prioritises human scale over spectacle: the relationship, the conversation in a clay room, the wait. That register is familiar and deeply felt across the Iranian diaspora regardless of where they settled.
Where & how to watch
Otaghake Geli is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. Watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking. Stream with a K-Time subscription; cancel anytime.