Before transitioning to the Islamic Republic, Iranian society was a dynamic society. In 1953 the elected government was overthrown in a military ‘coup’ by US and British intelligence agencies. Reza Pahlavi’s royal reign began. American control over mineral oil.

Iran’s democratic space also weakened and economic dynamism did not increase. Exploiting this discontent, hardliners seized power through popular uprisings. The rule of religious leaders began. Since 1979, the Euro-American embargo on Iran has continued. Many wars have also been imposed at the instigation of the Israelis.

The age-old struggle between Iran, Israel and Turkey for control in West Asia also continues. Due to the embargo, economic growth has stopped. The available resources are spent on war preparations. In this situation, more than 35 percent of the population of the Iranian society is pushed below the poverty line and another large part is the lower middle class.

What happens to a family after being hit by poverty? What is the mood of a husband who cannot meet the needs of a college-going daughter? How are family members able to cope with small joys and laugh at great sorrows? How does the society force people to steal, cheat, etc.? How does it affect a common student when the country’s economy weakens and the value of their money falls against the dollar?

The story of how a family is destroyed while stealing a laptop, Iranian movie ‘Raha’ (My Daughter’s Hair). Based on the story of ‘My daughter’s hair’, the Iranian movie Raha, which was released in 2025 and directed by Hassam Farahmand, has reached Nepal after being selected in many festivals.

Iranian cinema is world famous for its style and message. A section of Iranian cinematographers continues to give the world meaningful cinema amid strict government censorship. The story of his suffering, struggle and achievement this week Inscriptionwrote a long review. One such director is Syed Hasam Farahmand and his film Raha.

The movie begins in a small apartment of a lower middle class family. The father, who was once a train driver, becomes mentally weak and quits his job after being traumatized by the sight of a girl who looks like his own daughter committing suicide by entering under the wheel of the train he is driving. He cannot work by sticking to any other profession. He learns to work by repairing old electrical equipment but does not achieve much success. The son is unemployed. Daughter is studying. Theft is so rampant in Iran that someone can steal your belongings while sitting in a park or walking around the city.

Inflation rate is high and people find it difficult to buy even small items from original shops. Daughter Raha’s laptop is also stolen at the same time. He has to do college project work. Not without a laptop. Report the theft to the police. One day father and daughter go to the police to see if their lost laptop has arrived. There are fifty such laptops but Raha’s is nowhere to be found.

‘Walk with one, no one says anything, someone might have taken your laptop,’ says Bau easily. The daughter is stunned by her husband’s moral ejaculation. Nowhere is there direct dialogue that theft is on the rise in Iran, but scenes of second-hand street shops and a police office point to grisly theft, fraud and looting, the economic impact of an expensive dollar and the strain on families.

A father cannot survive in any profession. A mother tends to scold and discourage her husband rather than supporting him in his suffering. Children are growing up torn between their own needs and family poverty. Both the children are inclined towards the father by the mother’s words to the father. In the subconscious of this generation, there is a spark of rebellion and discontent.

How much has the price of Rani Paisa decreased, a new Apple laptop costs 7 crores and Raha’s father bought this laptop for 1.5 crores using the money he sold his hair from a second hand shop.

Raha sells her beautiful and long hair to her friend Meena for a laptop. A boy whom Raha likes chooses Meena instead of Raha because of her family’s poverty. Meena braids Raha’s hair and plans to marry Raha’s ex-boyfriend. She belongs to a rich family.

Meanwhile, a laptop brought from a second-hand shop contains several nude photos of the girl who used the laptop before it was lost (stolen) and photos of her attending parties. It does not say anything in detail, but despite the use of Islamic police and strict repression in Iranian society, the cinema conveys the message that secretly Iranian youth continue to use many options for entertainment, drug use is increasing.

Raha is doing her project work on this laptop. How much the price of Iranian money has decreased, if a new Apple laptop costs 7 crores and Raha’s father bought this laptop for 1.5 crores using the money he sold his hair from a second-hand shop. The girl who lost this laptop is unconscious in the hospital. His brother comes to Raha with the police, insults the family and takes away the laptop.

While trying to get his documents on this laptop, Raha dies of suffocation after getting stuck in the elevator while trying to enter the house through the elevator (the elevator keeps breaking down). His brother survives a car crash with a broken leg while running to catch his father selling a broken laptop and ends up cheating another girl for the laptop.

A few days after Raha’s death, Meena arrives to collect some of her belongings from Raha’s room. Meena goes to the room used by Raha where Raha and she used to sit and study together. That’s when Raha’s father closes the main door. After leaving the room, Mina asks him for her daughter’s hair back. Mina resists but is forced to cut her hair. At the end of the story, the father is seen sleeping with his dead daughter’s severed leg.

In early 2025, Raha hit the screens. Less than a year later, people in Iran began to protest against the government. A series of massive demonstrations and fierce repression ensued. Hundreds of people were shot. The reasons for that performance can be experienced while watching this Raha movie. The society is caught in deep economic, political and moral crisis. Such a society where people are committing crimes under compulsion, the society is running on it as a daily routine. All are constrained.

Right now, Israel and America are imposing war on Iran. Iranians are facing three tribulations at once. There is poverty, there is oppression of Islamic power and there is war.

The director has portrayed the causes of discontent and rebellion in the society in a subtle and artistic way.

This movie can be a lesson for Nepali cinema viewers and sociologists analyzing the society here who want to make meaningful movies.

(Raha ‘RAHA’ is being screened at the opening session of the 9th Nepal International Film Festival 2026 to be held in Kathmandu from today.)