Director: Yoosef Hatamikia
Cast: Ali Bagheri, Babak Behshad, Naser Hashemi
Shabe Talaei is a 2022 Iranian comedy-mystery film directed by Yoosef Hatamikia, following an extended family whose attempt at a warm birthday gathering for their aging mother unravels into chaos when something precious goes missing under their own roof.
What is Shabe Talaei about?
An elderly Iranian mother has spent years holding her scattered family together through sheer will and love. When her children and grandchildren finally assemble under the old family home's roof to celebrate her birthday, the atmosphere is warm — briefly. A single disappearance shatters the evening's goodwill, turning relatives into suspects and rekindling long-buried grudges. What was supposed to be a golden night of unity becomes a test of trust, memory, and what it really means to belong to a family. The film mines comedy and mild suspense from the gap between how families imagine their bonds and how fragile those bonds prove under pressure.
Cast & crew
The film is directed by Yoosef Hatamikia, whose background spans Iranian dramatic and genre productions. The cast is led by Ali Bagheri, Babak Behshad, and Naser Hashemi — three familiar faces to Iranian domestic cinema audiences — each playing family members whose relationships grow increasingly strained as the evening deteriorates.
Context & significance
Family-reunion comedies carry a particular weight for diaspora viewers who know the emotional choreography of gathering relatives in one room after years apart — the forced warmth, the old wounds, the things no one says directly. Shabe Talaei captures a specifically Iranian version of that dynamic, where a mother's birthday becomes a referendum on the family's cohesion. The film sits in a tradition of Iranian domestic comedy that uses the enclosed family home as a pressure cooker, letting social comedy and mild mystery share the same frame. For viewers abroad, it offers a recognizable portrait of multigenerational Persian family life with the humor intact.
Where & how to watch
Shabe Talaei is available to stream on K-Time in original Persian audio with subtitles. Watch on the web, your Android TV, or your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, no extra download required. Subscribe and cancel anytime.