Director: Pedram Pour Amiri

Cast: Reza Attaran, Parinaz Izadyar, Azadeh Samadi, Abbas Jamshidifar, Amir Ahmad Ghazvini

Saddam is a 2025 Iranian comedy-drama film directed by Pedram Pour Amiri, starring Reza Attaran as a Tehran man whose uncanny physical resemblance to the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein pulls him into a dangerous web of political theatre, mistaken identity, and dark absurdist comedy.

What is Saddam about?

Salah is an ordinary Tehran resident who happens to look strikingly like one of history's most feared dictators. That resemblance is not merely a curiosity — it becomes a liability when he is recruited to serve as a stand-in for Saddam Hussein. His assignment: travel to Tehran's Azadi Tower and deliver staged speeches that will be filmed and broadcast as evidence of the Iraqi leader's supposed triumph. What begins as an outlandish errand quickly spirals into a series of complications that threaten Salah's relationships, his sense of self, and his safety. The film uses this premise to examine how ordinary people are swept into the currents of power and propaganda, often without fully understanding the forces at play around them.

Cast & crew

Reza Attaran, one of Iran's most beloved comic actors, carries the dual weight of physical transformation and emotional grounding as Salah. Parinaz Izadyar, known for her naturalistic presence on screen, anchors the film's domestic and emotional core. The supporting ensemble — Abbas Jamshidifar, Azadeh Samadi, Amir Ahmad Ghazvini, and Siavash Cheraghipour — brings texture to the world that closes in around the protagonist.

Context & significance

Iranian satirical cinema has a long tradition of using comedy to examine political absurdity, and Saddam situates itself squarely within that lineage. For diaspora audiences, the premise will carry particular resonance: the figure of Saddam Hussein loomed large over Iranian collective memory, especially in the generation shaped by the Iran-Iraq War. A film that transforms that historical weight into dark comedy and personal farce speaks to a cultural reflex familiar to Persian-speaking viewers — the ability to laugh at the impossible situations history creates for ordinary people. Director Pour Amiri works in a mode that blends social observation with broad comedy, making the film accessible across generations of Iranian viewers at home and abroad.

Where & how to watch

Saddam is available to stream on K-Time with the original Persian audio. Watch on the web at ktime.app, on your Android TV, or on your phone — no VPN required, no geo-blocking, cancel anytime.