Iranian film director dares to make fun of Ahmadinejad

Kamal Tabrizi releases a new film titled Maarmouz (Sly) in which a bearded Iranian official is presented as foolish, hot-headed and comical.

By HAGAY HACOHEN
Iranian actor Hamed Behdad in a new comedy by Kamal Tabrizi called 'Sly' (photo credit: YOUTUBE)
Iranian actor Hamed Behdad in a new comedy by Kamal Tabrizi called 'Sly'
(photo credit: YOUTUBE)
In his new comedy, Iranian director Kamal Tabrizi focuses on the character of Maarmouz (Sly), an Iranian politician who sports a large beard and claims to defend Islamic values. In his zeal to gather supporters he's presented as giving speeches to a brood of hens, who of course loudly voice their agreement.
Played by Hamed Behdad, the character poses more than a slight resemblance to former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In the film, all his efforts fail until he unwittingly saves a large crowd attending a rock concert from a bomb when he forces them to leave the 'un-Islamic' show.
The comedy continues to show him eventually fall from political grace only to reunite with his college sweetheart, who left him in favor of a liberal student while in school. A choice that is reveled to be the source of his radical and close minded view.
It's worth to note that Kamal Tabrizi was himself among the students who in 1979 took over the US Embassy in Tehran, the film in that case might be a reflection of an older, wiser man on his radical choices as a youth.
Tabrizi said he asked Ahmadinejad to join him and watch the movie in a private screening but was declined.
This is not the first time Tabrizi dared to film a comical movie making fun of radical norms. In his 2004 film Lizard [Marmulak] he presented a small-time thief pretending to be a wise scholar of Islamic law.
Despite his wish to remain in hiding, his common sense answers to questions on Islamic law eventually bring him back to the public's attention.