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*Shahrzad*
Shahrzad
Persian	شهرزاد
Genre	Drama; Romance; Historical; Crime; Mystery;
Written by	Hassan Fathi; Naghmeh Samini;
Directed by	Parsa Ali
Starring	Taraneh Alidoosti; Ali Nasirian; Shahab Hosseini; Mostafa Zamani; Parinaz Izadyar; Mehdi Soltani; Mahmoud Pak Niat; Abolfazl Poorarab; Jamshid Hashempour; Ghazal Shakeri; Hooman Barghnavard; Reza Kianian; Roya Nonahali; Ateneh Faghih Nasiri; Amir Jafari; Amirhossein Fathi;
Theme music composer	Mohsen Chavoshi
Composer	Amir Tavassoly
Country of origin	Iran
Original language	Persian
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	59
Production
Producer	Mohammad Emami
Production locations	Tehran; Isfahan;
Cinematography	Nooshin Jafari
Editor	Mahdi Hoseinivand
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	Home video
Release	12 October 2015 –; 11 June 2018

Shahrzad (Persian: شهرزاد, romanized: Shahrzād) is an Iranian romantic and historical drama series written by Hassan Fathi and Naghmeh Samini, produced by Mohammad Emami and directed by Hassan Fathi^[1] The storyline is set around and after the 1953 Iranian coup d'état.^[2]^[3] The series is licensed by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran and available online and in CDs around the country.^[4] Due to its international popularity, it has been dubbed and aired in Urdu, Arabic, French, Spanish^[5]^{[failed verification]} and Russian.^[6] It stars Ali Nassirian, Taraneh Alidoosti, Shahab Hosseini, Mostafa Zamani and Parinaz Izadyar.

In the first few episodes, the singer of the series was Alireza Ghorbani. Then Mohsen Chavoshi and Sina Sarlak replaced him. In the last two episodes, Amin Bani and Farnaz Maleki were added to the series' singers.

Storyline

Iranian businessman Bozorg Agha is the head of a very powerful mafia syndicate who had a strong role in the coup d'état against Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh's government on 18 August 1953.^[7] The son and daughter of two of Bozorg Agha's henchmen, Shahrzad and Farhad, are about to get married. During the coup chaos, Farhad gets arrested and sentenced to death. Bozorg Agha uses the influence he has amongst the coup heads to set Farhad free on the condition that Shahrzad agrees to break her engagement to him and marry the nephew of Bozorg Agha, Ghobad. Ghobad is already married to the sterile daughter of Bozorg Agha, Shirin, who does not take kindly to her husband's growing love for his second wife. The conflict created by these circumstances as well as the political activities of Farhad set the background for the story. The series follows the troubled lives of the people under the control of Bozorg Agha's rule as well as the ongoing rivalry between Bozorg Agha and other corrupt political leaders of the time.^[8]

Cast

= Main cast (credited)

= Recurring cast (3+)

= Guest cast (1-2)

Actor	Character	Seasons
Actor	Character	1	2	3
Taraneh Alidoosti	Shahrzad Saadat	Main
Shahab Hosseini	Ghobad Divansalar	Main
Mostafa Zamani	Farhad Damavandi	Main
Parinaz Izadyar	Shirin Divansalar	Main
Ali Nassirian	Bozorg Agha Divansalar	Main	Does not appear
Mehdi Soltani	Hashem Damavandi	Main		Recurring
Fariba Motekhasses	Marzieh	Main
Soheyla Razavi	Parvin	Main
Mahmoud Pakniat	Jamshid Saadat	Main	Does not appear
Gelareh Abbasi	Akram Bourbouran	Main
Houman Barghnavard	Colonel Teymouri	Main		Recurring
Pantea Panahiha	Sharbat	Main		Recurring
Parviz Fallahipour	Nosrat Pashaei	Recurring	Main
Amirhossein Fathi	Homayoun Mohtadi/Saber Abdolli	Recurring	Main
Ghazal Shakeri	Azar Goldarrei	Main	Does not appear
Abolfazl Pourarab	Heshmat Pashaei	Main	Does not appear
Amirhossein Rostami	Babak Yeganeh	Main	Does not appear
Mina Vahid	Maryam Mehrzad	Main	Does not appear
Nahal Dashti	Mitra Damavandi	Recurring
Mona Ahmadi & Maasoumeh Beygi	Simin Saadat	Recurring
Nasim Adabi	Homeyra Saadat	Recurring
Ramin Naser Nasir	Houshang	Recurring
Pasha Jamali	Asghari	Recurring
Jamshid Hashempour	Major Fouladshekan	Recurring	Does not appear
Roya Nonahali	Belgheys Divansalar	Does not appear	Main	Guest
Reza Kianian	Shapour Behboudi	Does not appear	Main
Amir Jafari	Captain Aparviz	Does not appear	Main
Ateneh Faghih Nasiri	Soraya	Does not appear	Recurring
Jamshid Gorgin	Shahram Behboudi	Recurring	Does not appear
Manouchehr Zendehdel	Colonel Soheili	Recurring	Does not appear
Hadi Ghomeyshi	Mr. Shirvani	Recurring	Does not appear
Banipal Shoomoon	Esfandiari	Recurring	Does not appear
Saghi Zinati	Malmal Taherkhanlou	Recurring	Does not appear
Mehran Nael	Mr. Arshad	Recurring
Farshid Samadipour	Zabih	Recurring
Parviz Bozorgi	Rajab	Recurring
Mohammad Yeganeh	Asad Ghiasi	Recurring
Nahid Moslemi	Batool	Recurring
Sam Nouri	Sedgh Nouri	Recurring
Abbas Zafari	Akram's father	Recurring
Parisa Sabournezhad	Saeedeh	Recurring	Does not appear
Mahsa Nasiri	Esmat	Recurring	Does not appear
Hamid Reza Azarang	Lieutenant Mohammadi	Guest	Does not appear
Hossein Saharkhiz	Masoud Khan	Does not appear	Recurring
Shokrekhoda Goodarzi	Mozaffar	Does not appear	Recurring
Siamak Helmi	Feri	Does not appear	Recurring
Parviz Bashardoost	Enayatollah Khan	Does not appear	Recurring
Mohsen Naghibian		Does not appear	Recurring
Amirkaveh Ahaninjan		Does not appear	Recurring
Aman Rahimi		Does not appear	Recurring
Mahdi Yahestani		Does not appear	Recurring
Morteza Rostami		Does not appear	Recurring
Javad Zeytooni		Does not appear	Recurring
Farhad Mahdavi		Does not appear	Recurring
Mohammadreza Imanian		Does not appear	Recurring
Houshang Ghanavatizadeh		Does not appear	Recurring
Behzad Davari		Does not appear	Recurring
Pouria Miandehi		Does not appear	Recurring
Shahab Ashkan		Does not appear	Recurring
Hootan Shateripour		Does not appear	Recurring
Amirhossein Shariatmadari		Does not appear	Recurring
Mohsen Marvi		Does not appear	Recurring
Elham Nami		Does not appear	Recurring
Ahmad Lashini		Does not appear	Recurring

Production

The cast of the 59-episode series includes over 200 artists. Considering the professional team behind the camera, plus two years spent on pre-production and four months of shooting, it is the biggest project by the private sector for the home video network.^[9]

Location

The series was shot in Ghazali Cinematic Town in the western part of Tehran. Covering an area of 10 hectares, the complex was established in 1971 by the late director Ali Hatami, partially simulating old Tehran. It comprises various state and historic buildings; streets, and places similar to more than 100 years ago decorated by Italian decorators, particularly Gianni Cortina. Other locations are the Museum of the Qasr Prison, Vossug ed Dowleh House, House dr Mohammad Moin, Naderi Café, Passenger Terminal, Sulaimaniyah Palace and Baharestan Square camerawork.^[10] Another location that resonated with the Armenian community in Iran is the Armenian Club that is used for weddings and outings by the Armenians. This club is used in the very first few parts of episode one of Shahrzad as a meeting place for Farhad and Shahrzad.

Distribution

Its first season was broadcast in 2014. The broadcast of the second season started on Monday, June 19, 2017 and ended on October 17, 2017. The broadcast of the third season also began from January 31, 2018 and ended on June 21, 2018. The series was broadcast weekly on Mondays.

Reception

Reviews

Parviz Jahed review from Guardian wrote:

Good story-telling has made it an intriguing and successful melodrama set against the backdrop of an important episode in Iran’s modern history.^[11]

Mahdi Ganjavi review from Global Voices Online wrote:

As the story of Shahrzad shows, the political and economic aspirations, desires, and interests of any historical moment entail a revision of what happened in the past. Shahrzad is a love story in the disturbed atmosphere.^[12]

Awards

This series has had a total of 12 nominations and 7 wins from Hafez Awards and has had 6 nominations and 2 wins from the Yas International Film Festival.

Season 1

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result
2016	16th Hafez Awards^[13]
		Best Series	Shahrzad	Won
		Best Director	Hassan Fathi	Won
		Best Soundtrack	Mohsen Chavoshi with Sina Sarlak	Nominated
		Best Actor	Shahab Hosseini	Nominated
		Best Actor	Ali Nasirian	Won
		Best Actress	Taraneh Alidoosti	Nominated
		Best Actress	Parinaz Izadyar	Nominated
		Life Achievement	Jamshid Hashempour	Won

Also won the Best Director and Best Screenplay category at the fourth Yas International Film Festival.

Season 2 & 3^[14]

Was appreciated the most with three awards from Hafez Awards:

The best drama actor award went to Mehdi Soltani
The best drama actress to Roya Nonahali
Best director award to Hassan Fathi.

And eight nominations, including:

Best Actress for Taraneh Alidosti, Prinaz Izdiar and Galareh Abbasi
Best Actor for Mostafa Zamani, Shahab Hosseini and Amir Hossein Fathi

Poll

Best Series in Iran of all Time with 67% vote - Cmmagazine^[15]

Celebration and Appreciation

Celebration and appreciation ceremony of the actors of Shahrzad series was held last night, Sunday, May 16, in the presence of the agents of this series and other cinema artists in the conference hall of Milad Tower in Tehran.^[16]

Soundtracks

Shahrzad OST

Track listing
No.	Title	Artist	Length
1.	"Shahrzad"	Alireza Ghorbani	2:50
2.	"Shahrzad 2"	Alireza Ghorbani	3:16
3.	"Hamkhaab"	Mohsen Chavoshi	2:59
4.	"Be Rasme Yadegar"	Mohsen Chavoshi	5:31
5.	"Kojaei?"	Mohsen Chavoshi Ft. Sina Sarlak	3:48
6.	"Shahrzad"	Mohsen Chavoshi	4:11
7.	"Afsar"	Mohsen Chavoshi Ft. Sina Sarlak	4:40
8.	"Mah Pishooni"	Mohsen Chavoshi	3:57
9.	"Barkhiz"	Sina Sarlak	4:51
10.	"Khodahafezie Talkh"	Mohsen Chavoshi	3:58
11.	"Divooneh"	Mohsen Chavoshi
12.	"Fandak Tab dar"	Mohsen Chavoshi Ft. Sina Sarlak	3:37
13.	"Ey Darigha"	Mohsen Chavoshi Ft. Sina Sarlak	4:27
14.	"Havam Dobare pase"	Mohsen Chavoshi	4:25
15.	"Tanha Omide Zendegi"	Sina Sarlak	4:05
16.	"Kash Nadide Boodamet"	Mohsen Chavoshi	5:04
17.	"Jome"	Mohsen Chavoshi	4:36
18.	"Del Ey Del"	Mohsen Chavoshi Ft. Sina Sarlak	5:33
19.	"Che Kardi"	Amin Bani Ft. Farnaz Maleki	4:17
20.	"Nashod"	Amin Bani Ft. Farnaz Maleki	4:58