Iranian cinema is full of faces that once shone like bright stars—actors who created unforgettable roles, stirred hearts, and mesmerized audiences. But sometimes fate and difficult circumstances lead some of these stars into early silence—actors who, despite talent and hard work, for various reasons, faded from the spotlight and slipped into oblivion.
This article offers a bittersweet look at the lives and careers of a few of these “lost souls of the silver screen”—faces whose stories are woven with both light and shadow, and whose memories still live on in the hearts of cinema lovers.
1. Farimah Farjami in Narges
The painful ending of Narges (Rakhshan Bani-Etemad) might just be the most fitting final act for Farimah Farjami, who played Afagh—a woman who, upon realizing the youthful love Adel had for Narges, consciously chose the path of nonexistence, hoping in some way to achieve immortality through it. Was it fate’s cruelty that led the best actress of her time down such a tragic path? Did the masterpiece role of Afagh become the swan song of her charm on the silver screen? It was as if she sensed the new generation’s attraction to younger stars and, like Afagh, chose to vanish. Though she appeared in a few more films, none reached the emotional height of Narges, Mother, or Silk and Blade—not even The Lead or Tenants. Afagh was gone—she just didn’t die under a truck, so years later, cinephiles would still weep remembering the harrowing scene of her shaved head in The Lead, grieving for the young, ill-fated Afagh and the countless Adels distracted by their obsession with new Narges-like loves, forgetting what once was.
2. Esmaeil Moharabi in The Green House
In the frigid cultural climate of 1980s Iranian television, one fateful Monday night, a state TV presenter had to explain the affectionate interactions between a young girl and a man playing her father in the hit show Ayneh, clarifying that the actors were, in fact, father and daughter in real life—and viewers shouldn’t be offended by the scenes of him gently caressing the girl’s hair.
That man was Esmaeil Moharabi, then a top television actor and one of the busiest figures in cinema. Although he didn’t have the typical features of a hero, he often played them in films like Balash, Pulse, and Enchantment. His memorable roles extended to films like The Suitor, The First Lawyer, and series like Hezar Dastan, Avicenna, and Sarbedaran. But then, he vanished so completely that when he appeared a few years ago in Temporary Passage as a sweet old man, audiences couldn’t hide their surprise. During his thirty-year absence, he had only a few appearances, the most notable being as a son-in-law in the series The Green House, which made Wednesday nights more enjoyable for viewers. Recently, he’s had a small revival, especially in the widely seen film My Favorite Cake (by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeiha), which reached many homes via social media after being banned. His delightful performance surprised audiences and brought back memories of the eternally mustachioed man.
3. Mina Lakani in The Encounter
The Encounter (Mohammad-Reza Honarmand), though controversial in the 1990s due to its depiction of a forbidden love between a Christian girl and a Muslim soldier, was later forgotten. But it didn’t deserve this neglect. With a powerful and memorable performance as an Armenian student, Mina Lakani signaled the arrival of a new star—someone not only naturally beautiful but also talented. She convincingly portrayed ten years of this woman’s life, from falling in love and marrying a Muslim man, to enduring her husband’s capture, running the household, and finding success as a florist—earning the Crystal Simorgh for Best Actress at the Fajr Film Festival. The film retained its emotional force even after years of being shelved. Although her on-screen chemistry with Mehran Modiri wasn’t quite right—his rushed performance dulled their romantic moments—Lakani’s solo effort carried the film. But this explosive debut quickly became her farewell. Her cinematic career closed early, and she was relegated to mediocre television series. Disillusionment and emigration sealed the fate of this talented actress.
4. Hassan Joharchi in Under Your Protection
Mohammad Mansouri, played by Hassan Joharchi in the 1990s series Under Your Protection (Hamid Labkhandeh), became the ideal for young men and women alike: well-groomed, polite, devout, yet progressive—a model youth meant to embody state-approved values. A student of the arts who would drive north when heartbroken, and so irresistibly charming that Maryam Afshar (played by Laeya Zanganeh) was drawn to him. Joharchi was noticed through this role, though he had earlier film appearances in The Encounter (Sirus Alvand) and On the Wings of Angels (Javad Shamaghdari). Still, Mansouri became his iconic image.
His roles in two strong Masoud Kimiaei films—The Feast and The Sultan—could have cemented his cinema status, but they didn’t. While most young actors saw even one scene in a Kimiaei film as a golden ticket, Joharchi made poor choices, and aside from Two Women, his later film work didn’t shine. He transitioned more into low-grade TV dramas, and a few years later, news came of his untimely death.
5. Jahangir Almasi in The Shadow of the Scorpion
Once the leading man of many 1980s films, particularly in Kianoush Ayari’s Beyond the Fire, The Devil’s Pit, and The Shadow of the Scorpion, Jahangir Almasi mysteriously disappeared from screens. While Ali Nassirian continues to act with brilliance into his nineties, Almasi has made no notable cinematic return. His role in Exodus (Ebrahim Hatamikia) was underwhelming in both scope and execution, a far cry from the essential part he once played in Iran’s most important films of the 1980s.
6. Ghazal Sarmadi in The Bride of Fire
With a striking debut in Bride of Fire (Khosrow Sinai), Ghazal Sarmadi seemed destined for a long and successful career, even with average talent. But repeated bad luck kept her from capitalizing on that stunning beginning. The last lasting image of her is from Under the City’s Sky (Mehran Ghafourian), where she played Behrouz Pirpikasheki’s wife for one season—never to return in future seasons.
7. Forgotten Legends
There were other great actors, like Sousan Taslimi and Shahla Mirbakhtiar, who couldn’t survive the constraints of the 1980s Iranian cinema. While Taslimi immortalized herself in a handful of films and now works in theater abroad, no one hears anymore about Shahla Mirbakhtiar—once famous for Desert Autumn and admired for her classic 1980s beauty that sparked envy. Her disappearance remains a mystery.
8. The Stories Go On…
The saga of “lost souls of the silver screen” is far too vast to tell in full. Just one of them, Parviz Fannizadeh, could fill two or three books with raw material for weeping, sighing, and sorrow.
