Director: Iraj Ghaderi

Cast: Iraj Ghaderi, Naser Malek Motiee, Goli Zanganeh, Ali Akbar Mahdavifar, Ashraf Kashani

Sineh Chaak is a 1977 Iranian drama film directed by Iraj Ghaderi, set in the southern city of Jahrom and centered on a doomed love story between two young people trapped by family debt and social custom. Ghaderi both directs and stars in this emotionally raw portrait of loss, loyalty, and circumstance.

What is Sineh Chaak about?

Morteza is deeply in love with Zari, and the two share a bond that feels destined. But Zari's father, burdened by debts he cannot escape, makes a desperate arrangement: he agrees to give his daughter in marriage to a wealthy man willing to settle those debts in full. Zari, faced with a wedding she never chose and a future stripped of the one person she loves, cannot bear the weight of what is coming. On her wedding night she chooses death over a life without meaning. Shattered by her loss, Morteza abandons Jahrom — the city that holds every memory of her — and leaves without looking back.

Cast & crew

Iraj Ghaderi, who was one of the most recognizable faces of pre-revolution Iranian popular cinema, takes both the director's chair and the lead role of Morteza. Naser Malek Motiee, a beloved veteran of Persian film, appears in a key supporting part. Goli Zanganeh, Ali Akbar Mahdavifar, Ashraf Kashani, Zanich, and Malihe Nasiri round out the cast in roles that ground the story in recognizable southern Iranian social life.

Context & significance

Sineh Chaak belongs to the wave of melodramas that defined Iranian popular cinema in the 1970s — films that traded in big emotions, class tension, and the collision between love and patriarchal authority. For diaspora viewers who grew up watching pre-revolution Persian films, a title like this carries layered resonance: it is simultaneously a piece of entertainment and a time capsule of a social world that no longer exists. The Jahrom setting gives the film a regional texture rarely seen in Tehran-centric productions of the era. Watching it today, audiences encounter not only a story but a visual record of southern Iranian life, speech patterns, and family dynamics from nearly five decades ago.

Where & how to watch

Sineh Chaak is available on K-Time with the original Persian audio. Stream it on your TV, phone, or browser — no VPN required, no geo-blocking, and no extra download needed. Start watching with a K-Time subscription and cancel anytime.