Last night I watched Santouri, an Iranian drama film directed by Dariush Mehrjui dealing with the life of a Santour player named Ali Bolourchi.
This film has only been screened once in Iran. Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has forbidden public representation of it. Of course, anybody can find a CD or DVD copy of it. During last year, most argued about why the public representation has been forbidden?
After watching, I asked myself this question too. I think they had forbidden it because this film represents another Iran unlike what the political system claims. Ali and Hanieh represent the Iranian youth and their problems such as addiction and social limitation in general.
In addition, Ali and Hanieh act as real as the Iranian youth live in Iran today. Most of them don’t say prayers every day and they ignore Islamic limitation about relationship between girls and boys. In general, they don’t accept Islamic culture as the political system wants them to do. Ali and Hanieh spend time together before marriage on mountains around Tehran. This is unlawful religiously and even it is an act against the law.
Santouri is a real film about Iran today and these realities torture officials in Iran.
Siddhartha 