Director: Ali Ghavitan
Cast: Ali Ghavitan, Mehdi Soltani, Laleh Eskandari, Bahare Kianafshar, Abolfazl Miri
Royaie Sohrab is a 2021 Iranian drama film directed by Ali Ghavitan, in which the filmmaker himself plays the central role — a director who sets out on a deeply personal journey to understand one of Iran's most beloved poet-painters, Sohrab Sepehri, drawn by an uncanny physical resemblance.
What is Royaie Sohrab about?
When an independent filmmaker notices how closely he resembles the legendary Iranian painter and poet Sohrab Sepehri, he becomes consumed by the idea of making a film about this iconic figure. He travels to Kashan — the city where Sepehri was born and grew up — hoping that the dusty alleys, sprawling gardens, and quiet countryside will unlock something deeper than research ever could. As he walks through the places that shaped Sepehri's childhood, his productive middle years, and the final period of his life — when the poet was wrestling with the completion of his celebrated work Blue Room — the director finds his own sense of self slowly dissolving into the search. What begins as a filmmaker's project becomes something far more unsettling: a meditation on identity, memory, and what it means to inhabit another person's world.
Cast & crew
Director Ali Ghavitan takes the lead role himself, embedding his own creative anxiety into the film's texture. Mehdi Soltani, a highly regarded presence in Iranian cinema, joins him alongside Laleh Eskandari, Bahare Kianafshar, Abolfazl Miri, Tarlan Parvaneh, and Ghazaleh Akrami — a cast that grounds this introspective film with strong, experienced performances.
Context & significance
Sohrab Sepehri occupies a singular place in Persian cultural memory. A painter and poet who drew from Zen philosophy, nature, and the quiet landscapes of central Iran, he remains one of the most read and revered figures of modern Persian literature — his verses memorized by Iranians across generations and continents. For diaspora viewers, a film that physically walks through Kashan and reconstructs the emotional geography of Sepehri's life carries particular weight. Royaie Sohrab is less a conventional biopic than a contemplative, almost dreamlike inquiry — it sits in the tradition of Iranian art cinema that prizes inner experience over narrative momentum, and asks its audience to slow down and feel.
Where & how to watch
Royaie Sohrab is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio with English subtitles. Watch on the web, your TV, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and cancel anytime.