Non-actor to play Leader’s role in TV series “Unfinished Mystery”

The series, which is in the pre-production stage, is a biopic about Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, Iran’s second prime minister after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, who was assassinated by the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) on August 30, 1981. 

Bahonar had earlier been selected as the secretary-general of the Islamic Republican Party after the assassination of the former president of the party, Ayatollah Mohammad-Hossein Beheshti, by the MKO on June 28, 1981.

The series will be co-directed by Ali and Amin Amani. Amani is also the producer of the project, the script of which has been written by Seyyed Jalaleddin Dorri.

Farhad Jam, an actor in the popular series “The Spouses” co-directed by Bijan Birang and Masud Rasam in 1994, has been cast as Bahonar in “Unfinished Mystery”, which is expected to be broadcast in June 2021.

In addition, Ramin Rastad, star of acclaimed movies “Conditional Release” and “Friday Evening”, will play the role of Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a member of the Islamic Republican Party.

The producer has not yet revealed who will play the role of Ayatollah Beheshti, Fatemi said and added that members of the cast will be announced after the casting is completed.

“However, the role of the Leader will certainly be played by a non-actor; the main point in the series is that the roles are played perfectly,” noted Fatemi.

The shooting of the 26-episode series will begin in January 2021 in Iran, and the crew will leave the country to film some scenes on location outside the country. 

The series will also center on Masud Keshmiri, a member of the MKO who infiltrated the Islamic Republican Party and, coming up through the ranks, reached the position of secretary of the Supreme National Security Council before planting an incendiary bomb in his briefcase that detonated in the prime minister’s office, martyring then president Mohammad-Ali Rajai and several others who were present.

Following the assassination of Bahonar and Rajaei, Ayatollah Khamenei was selected as Iran’s third president after the victory of the Islamic Revolution.   

Photo: President Seyyed Ali Khamenei took the oath of office at the Iranian parliament on August 9, 1982.