Hezar Dastan

Hezar Dastan (Persian: هزاردستان‎, also Romanized as Hezār Dastān) (1979-1987) is a highly popular TV series in Iran directed by Ali Hatami. Hezar Dastan is considered an eternal work in the history of Iranian TV. Hatami established a small town as historical site in which he made Hezar Dastan. In 2006, Hezar Dastan was voted by the Association of Iranian movies and TV critics as the best Iranian TV series ever made.

Plot

Ghazarian jewelry shop is robbed by Moffatesh Shesh Angoshti (Davoud Rashidi). A set of jewelry belonging to Khan-e-Mozaffar's daughter-in-law, Amineh Aghdas (Zari Khoshkam) is among the stolen jewels. Khan -e- Mozaffar (Ezzatolah Entezami), who used to be the governor of Kerman, asks the Head of the Police (Jafar Vali) in Tehran to locate the missing jewels. Head of Police then assigns Moffatesh to find the set of jewelry. After a few unsuccessful attempts to recover the jewelry set, Moffatesh realizes that a Police Officer (Nematollah Gorji) stole the set in the process of crime.

The corrupt inspector, whose position has become shaky, retreats to Mashhad. He asserts pressure on Reza Khoshnevis, the famous calligrapher, to hand over his wealth to him. It is then that Reza recounts the story of his life under torture.

Partial cast

• Jamshid Mashayekhi as Reza Tofangchi (Khoshnevis):

An old calligrapher, hunter and mercenary for Komiteh Mojazat. He is loosely based on four historical figures: Emad ol-Ketab, Mirza Mohammad Reza Kalhor, Karim Davatgar and Ali Hatami himself.

• Ezzatolah Entezami as Khan -e- Mozaffar (Hezardastan):

The former governor of Kerman, who lives full time in the Grand Hotel. He is presumably the most powerful man in Iran in the times of World War II and controls everything from Import / Export to Political Situations. He is based on Abdol-Hossein Farmanfarma.

• Davoud Rashidi as Moffatesh Shesh Angoshti (En: Six-Fingered Inspector):

A corrupt investigator and interrogator who works for Khan -e- Mozaffar. He is a mixed between several historical figures such as Muhammad-Husayn Ayrom, Rokneddin Mokhtari, Mohammad Dargahi, Abbas Bakhtiari and Adib ol-Saltaneh.

• Ali Nasirian as Abolfath
• Mohammad-Ali Keshavarz as Shaban Ostekhani
• Hosein Gil as Seyyed Morteza:

A iron-smith in Tehran who later kills Khan -e- Mozaffar

• Jafar Vali as Head of Police
• Zahra Hatami as Amineh Aghdas:

Khan -e- Mozaffar's Daughter-in-law

• Shahla Mir Bakhtiar as Ghamar Banoo
• Afsar Asadi as The Princess
• Rogheyeh Chehreh-Azad as Ghodsi
• Mehri Vadadian as Esmaeel Khan's Wife
• Jahangir Almasi as Newly Returned Doctor
• Parvis Pourhosseini as Matin -o- Saltane
• Hooshang Beheshti as Jalal ol-Molk
• Mohamad Motie as Gholam Amme
• Asghar Hemmat as A Soldier during Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
• Soroosh Khalili as Saqadar / Ghazarian
• Jahangir Forouhar as Head Waitor in Grand Hotel / Mofattesh -e- Nazmie (En: Police Inspector)
• Jamshid Layegh as Jafar Gholi Khan Neshat (Uncle Neshat)
• Mohammad Varshouchi as Police Officer
• Nematollah Gorji as Police Officer
• Esmaeel Mehrabi as Nasrollah Khorami
• Manouchehr Azari as the Grand Hotel's Doorman
• Farhang Mehrparvar as Doctor Khandan
• Akbar Doodkar as The Pharmacist
• Mansoor Vala Magham as the Grand Hotel's Manager
• Mahmoud Basiri as Dry Cleaner
• Esmail Mohammadi as Ostad Bahar
• Ataollah Zahed as Seyyed Ebrahim Rohani
• Leila Hatami as young Amineh Aghdas
• Saeed Amir Soleymani as Moeer ol-Doleh

Trivia

The movie was censored numerous times before it was cleared for screening by Islamic organizations in Iran.

External links

• Hezar Dastan at the Internet Movie Database