Director: Dariush Mehrjui
Cast: Niki Karimi, Ali Mosaffa, Khosro Shakibai, Parsa Pirouzfar, Melika Sharifinia
Pari is a 1995 Iranian drama film directed by Dariush Mehrjui, starring Niki Karimi in the title role. A meditative portrait of a young woman searching for existential meaning through a mysterious book left behind by her deceased brother, the film stands as one of Mehrjui's most introspective works.
What is Pari about?
Pari is a literature student whose world quietly fractures after her older brother Asad dies in a fire at his cabin. Among his few remaining possessions, she discovers a small green book — a medieval text tracing the spiritual journey of an obscure mystic. The writing unsettles her in ways she cannot explain, igniting an inner restlessness that pushes her away from ordinary life. Her surviving brother watches with growing concern as she withdraws further into questions about purpose, devotion, and the nature of a life truly lived. Pari moves through Tehran's streets and conversations like someone half in another century, searching not for answers exactly but for the permission to keep asking.
Cast & crew
Director Dariush Mehrjui is one of the founding figures of the Iranian New Wave, with a career spanning decades of socially and philosophically engaged cinema. Niki Karimi carries the film with quiet gravity, while Ali Mosaffa, Khosro Shakibai, and Parsa Pirouzfar ground the story in recognizable human warmth. Melika Sharifinia, Zhale Olov, Turan Mehrzad, and Mohammadreza Sharifinia round out a cast of well-regarded Iranian performers.
Context & significance
Released during a fertile period of Iranian art cinema, Pari reflects a tradition of literary, philosophically probing films that emerged from directors like Mehrjui in the decades following the revolution. For diaspora viewers, the film carries a particular resonance: the tension between inherited tradition and personal spiritual hunger is a lived experience for many Iranians abroad. The story's rootedness in Persian classical mysticism — the kind encoded in poetry by Rumi and Attar — will feel familiar as cultural memory even for those who grew up far from Iran. Mehrjui adapted the film loosely from J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, transplanting its crisis of spiritual authenticity into unmistakably Iranian soil, a move that opens the story to both audiences simultaneously.
Where & how to watch
Pari is available to stream on K-Time with original Persian audio. No VPN is required — K-Time has no geographic restrictions. Watch on your TV, computer, or phone; cancel anytime.