Director: Ali Zakerirad
Cast: Behnoosh Bakhtiari, Majid Shahriari, Khashayar Raad, Fariba Torkashvand, Mahsa Iranian
Yek Dahom is a 2023 Iranian comedy-drama film directed by Ali Zakerirad, following the persistent but perpetually thwarted attempts of a Tehran apartment building caretaker to purchase an automobile. Running 200 minutes, it draws a warm portrait of working-class ambition inside the social geography of the Iranian capital.
What is Yek Dahom about?
Ghasem works as the caretaker of a residential complex in an upscale Tehran neighbourhood, sharing a modest caretaker's room with his wife. He nurses a straightforward dream: to own a car. Each time he edges toward that goal, circumstances conspire to pull the prize just out of reach — whether through money, mishap, or the particular comedy of errors that urban life in a crowded apartment building reliably supplies. The film follows Ghasem through a series of these near-misses, sketching the rhythms of his daily routine, the tenants whose lives intersect with his, and the quiet determination that keeps him going despite every setback.
Cast & crew
Director Ali Zakerirad guides a cast anchored by Behnoosh Bakhtiari and Majid Shahriari as the central couple. Khashayar Raad and Fariba Torkashvand provide strong support, while Mahsa Iranian, Meysam Darvishanpour, and Hossein Rostami round out the ensemble of building residents whose presence shapes Ghasem's world.
Context & significance
Iranian social comedy has a long tradition of centering ordinary working people navigating the gap between modest aspiration and stubborn reality. Yek Dahom sits comfortably within that lineage, using the apartment building — a microcosm of Tehran's class geography — as its stage. For diaspora audiences, the film offers a recognisable texture of everyday life in the capital: the caretaker-tenant hierarchy, the particular pressures of being just outside the affluent world one serves, and the very human need to hold onto a simple ambition. Its relatively generous 200-minute runtime gives the story space to breathe and accumulate the small-scale moments that make this kind of character study resonate.
Where & how to watch
Yek Dahom is available on K-Time in its original Persian audio. Watch on the web, on your TV, or on your phone — no VPN needed, no geo-blocking, cancel anytime.