Shabhaye Barareh (English Only!)

[Rasputin]

Format Comedy
Running time 60 minutes (including commercials)
Rating
Creator(s) Mehran Modiri
Starring Mehran Modiri
Siamak Ansari
Saeid Pirdoost
Mohammad-Reza Hedayati
Saed Hedayati
Reza Shafie-Jam
Shaghayegh Dehghan
Hadi Kazemi
Country Iran
Network Channel 3
Original run September 24, 2005 – Present
No. of episodes 135 episodes planned in total


Shabhaye Barareh [ literally "Nights of Barareh" ]is an Iranian sitcom. It is broadcasted by the IRIB network, and is said to end sometime around Noruz 2006, after one hundred thirty episodes or so have been aired, as is the protocol for television comedies in Iran. It can be seen every night (with the exception of Sundays, when the cast takes a day off) at 8:00 PM Tehran time on Channel 3 in Iran. Repeats of the show are shown daily on IRIB 1 & IRIB 2 for those living out of the country. It is directed by and stars the renowned Mehran Modiri.

[Rasputin]

Description

Description

The show is set in the fictional village of Barareh in the 1940s in Iran, during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi, whose picture can be seen on the set. The village people have their own Persian dialect which humourously modifies the language. In addition to this, the Barareans also have certain customs and rituals which at times are comical, such as their method of eating chick peas -- by slapping individual peas from palm into mouth. The village of Barareh is believed by many be a microcosm of Iran itself. The town is split along the lines of Upper and Lower Barareh, which allegedly mimics the difference between the classes in modern day Iran. Events in the village, such as football ("darbid") matches, village council elections and marriage all also closely mirror today's Iran.

The show stars Mehran Modiri, as Shir Farhad, the son of Lower Barareh's khan, or leader. He lives with his sister, Saharnaz; mother, Shadoneh; and father, Salar Khan. The show begins when a journalist, Kiyanoush, from Tehran is arrested for writing an article criticizing the government, escapes capture, and then is promptly bitten by a snake. Shir Farhad finds him collapsed and brings him to the village of Barareh, nurtures him to health, and gradually introduces him to the town and the other characters in the show, such as the families of Upper and Lower Barareh's Khans, as well as the flamboyant village poet, Bagoori, and village doctor. Later in the series, new characters such as the village gendarme and Upper Barareh's Khan's son and daughter, Keivoon and Leiloon, join the cast.

[Rasputin]

Related series

Shabhaye Barareh is the prequel to Mehran Modiri's 2002/03 serial, Pavarchin. Whilst not taking place in Barareh, Pavarchin introduced the oddities and strange behaviours of Barareans. The series also has many of the cast members from Modiri's earlier works such as Pavarchin, Noghtechin, and Jayezeye Bozorg.

Regular cast

Lower Barareh
Siamak Ansari - Kiyanoush Esteghrarzadeh (the journalist from Tehran, and subsequently the son-in-law of the Lower Barareh's khan)
Shaghayegh Dehghan - Saharnaz (the Lower Barareh Khan's daughter)
Falamak Jonaidi - Shadoneh Khanoum (the Lower Barareh Khan's wife)
Mehran Modiri - Shir Farhad (the Lower Barareh Khan's son)
Mohammad Shiri - Salar Khan (the Khan of Lower Barareh)

[Rasputin]

Upper Barareh

Behnoush Bakhtiari - Leiloon (the Upper Barareh Khan's daughter)
Fatemeh Hashemi - Shakheh Shemshad Khanoum (the Upper Barareh Khan's wife)
Saed Hedayati - Jan Nesar (the Upper Barareh Khan's quasi-servant, whose sole purpose is to compliment and cajole him)
Hadi Kazemi - Nezam Du Barareh (the Upper Barareh Khan's nephew)
Saeid Pirdoost - Sardar Khan (the Khan of Upper Barareh)
Reza Shafie-Jam - Keivoon (the Upper Barareh Khan's son)

Not from the Village

Mohammad-Reza Hedayati - Yavar Toghrol (Barareh's gendarme)

[Rasputin]

Recurring Supporting Cast

Shayan Ahadifar - Village jester
Asghar Heidari - Village doctor/barber/banker
Ali Kazemi - Bagoori, the village poet
Mokhtar Saegi - Gendarme's assistant

More Info :

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493331/

http://www.tapesh.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1928&highlight=mehran+modiri

[Rasputin]

TV comedy raises tough issues in Iran

At eight o’ clock each evening, Iran grinds to a halt and tunes into a ground-breaking television comedy that candidly broaches often uncomfortable facts of life in the Islamic Republic.

The bazaar at Tajrish in northern Tehran, normally teeming with bargain hunters, is eerily quiet and stall-holders are glued to Barareh Nights. This comic soap opera may be set about 70 years ago in the little village of Barareh, but Iranian viewers see its corrupt councillors, rigged elections and vocal women’s rights group as a microcosm of Iran today.

Barareh even ‘enriches’ its staple foodstuff, peas, in a clear parallel with Iran’s disputed uranium enrichment programme, that Washington says is aimed at developing atomic weapons. “This show is just beautiful. The whole Islamic Republic is right here,” said Ahmad Eslami, joining a huddle of greengrocers round their television set.

One of the best loved characters in the soap is the town’s scowling gendarme, who sports an impressive moustache and perpetually barks orders to the cowed villagers. The gendarme is also responsible for zealously censoring Barareh’s newspaper. Iran closely monitors its press, and reporters deemed to ‘spread lies’ can promptly end up in jail. On Iran’s nuclear programme, Barareh firmly backs Iran’s right to nuclear technology and criticises the Europeans for requesting that Iran enrich its uranium abroad.

An Anglo-American, the epitome of Western duplicity to many in Iran, persuades the villagers to let him ‘enrich’ their peas abroad. He fattens the peas by soaking them in water, then sells them back to the villagers at twice the price. The villagers twig the foreigner is conning them. Beyond the big questions of bribery, censorship, and uranium enrichment, Barareh also tackles social issues. The village is divided into ‘Upper’ and ‘Lower’ Barareh, a divide that mirrors class boundaries in Tehran.

State television’s survey centre said the show was drawing a huge audience, being watched by 90 per cent of people with access to a television, now most of Iran’s 69 million people. It cited surveys that said 67 per cent of viewers appreciated the show for tackling contemporary social issues through humour. There were, however, plenty of complaints. Some viewers had complained the show was an insult to rural morals and degraded ‘distinguished’ figures such as poets. Barareh’s poet is manifestly gay, breaking a taboo in a country where homosexuality is illegal.

[khanoomi]

thanks red win jan

[Rasputin]

thanks red win jan

Then you like shabhayeh barareh,isn't ?