Director: Hadi Kiannia
Cast: Sahar Asadi, Seyed Milad Jalali, Saman Khosravi
Tamas Bi Pasokh (also known as Missed Call) is a 2016 Iranian horror-drama film written and directed by Hadi Kiannia, produced by Seyed Milad Jalali with backing from Roghayeh Dabbaghi. The film blends social realism with unsettling genre elements in a distinctly Iranian setting.
What is Tamas Bi Pasokh about?
When a missed phone call sets off a chain of unnerving events, the characters find themselves drawn into a web of fear and unresolved connections. The film follows ordinary people whose lives fracture under mounting psychological pressure — strangers bound together by a single unanswered signal. As dread accumulates and reality begins to blur, the story strips away comfortable certainties, leaving its characters — and its audience — to reckon with what goes unanswered. Kiannia builds tension gradually, anchoring the supernatural unease in recognizable social anxieties common to modern Iranian life.
Cast & crew
Director Hadi Kiannia, who also wrote the screenplay, keeps the storytelling intimate and grounded. Lead actress Sahar Asadi anchors the emotional core of the film, while Seyed Milad Jalali — who also served as producer — and Saman Khosravi round out the principal cast. The performances lean into restraint, which amplifies the film's slow-building unease rather than relying on overt theatrics.
Context & significance
Iranian horror has long operated at the intersection of everyday social tension and the uncanny, and Tamas Bi Pasokh fits squarely within that tradition. For diaspora viewers who grew up with Persian storytelling — where silence and absence carry enormous weight — this film's central conceit of an unanswered call resonates on multiple levels. The 2016 production era saw a surge of independent Iranian genre filmmaking pushing past conventional drama into territory that felt genuinely disquieting. Watching it abroad, the film reads as both a ghost story and a meditation on disconnection — themes that feel especially alive for Persian-speaking communities living far from home.
Where & how to watch
Tamas Bi Pasokh is available on K-Time with Persian audio. Stream it on your TV, computer, or phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, and no extra download required. A K-Time subscription lets you watch the full catalog and cancel anytime.