The 'Tyrants' Who Revived Post-Revolution Cinema

In spring 2016, Davood Rashidi, a prominent Iranian theater and cinema actor, began his season with Alzheimer's disease at home. This spring ended with his death due to cardiac arrest, also at home. Davood Rashidi and many other veteran figures of Iranian cinema were stars of the suffocating cinema of the 1980s and breathed life into it. Rashidi, who lived until September 2016, was a graduate of directing and acting from Geneva. Upon his return to Iran in the early 1960s, he joined the Ministry of Culture and Art. Mansour Tehrani, a lyricist and filmmaker residing in Sweden, mentions that Rashidi was known for his theatrical work before entering cinema: "Before all this, everyone knew Davood Rashidi when he came from France. He is known for Waiting for Godot, which he made famous in Iran." During that period, Rashidi founded the Today Theater Group, which many actors later formed the backbone of post-Islamic Revolution cinema, with some, like Sousan Taslimi, becoming successful and enduring figures. Iraj Janati Atai, a lyricist, playwright, and theater director, recalls studying under Rashidi and Hamid Samandarian as life-changing opportunities and highlights the significance of performing Waiting for Godot: "I will never forget what I saw and learned from the performance of Waiting for Godot." He continues, "We were at a crossroads after renowned practitioners like Nushin, Mehrtash, and the Eskoi family, and then Samandarian, Davood Rashidi, and Arbi Avanesian performed a type of theater that transformed us." Rashidi, a prolific actor in the 1980s Iranian cinema, turned to acting in films in the late 1960s. His first two films were not very successful until he appeared in Jalal Moghadam's unique film, "Escape from the Trap," showcasing his successful cinematic persona. During this time, he moved from the Ministry of Culture and Art to the National Radio and Television of Iran as the head of the theater and entertainment group. Reza Alamehzadeh, an Iranian director living in the Netherlands, sought Rashidi for his new film, Fadai, after completing his first film, Qadir: "It was the same year I was studying, in 1971, that the opportunity to make Fadai arose for me." He notes the closeness of Iraj Janati Atai as the screenwriter to Rashidi, saying, "We invited him to play one of the main roles alongside Taghi Mokhtar, and he graciously accepted, leading to a sweet collaboration in Tehran and Dezful for filming." Rashidi's presence in front of his students' cameras was a significant event for young Alamehzadeh: "For me, it was a great honor, and it still is, that an artist of that caliber acted in a film by someone who had not yet completed their studies. This shows the greatness of Davood Rashidi." Iraj Janati Atai, a renowned lyricist residing in London and a student of Rashidi at the Dramatic Arts Faculty, also reflects on this friendship and its continuation in the film Fadai: "I met him through our late playwright, Gholam Hossein Saedi, and we developed a friendship beyond the student-teacher relationship. This led to a text I wrote for a film directed by the dear Reza Alamehzadeh, in which Davood also acted." The emotional roots of this friendship led Janati Atai to dedicate one of his awakening songs, "Don't Cry," sung by Morteza to the melody and arrangement of Davood Ardalan, to this artist: "When I created it, I was inspired by an event near the Dramatic Arts Faculty. After writing it, I was confused, and when he saw me at the faculty, he asked where I was. I told him I was struck by a feeling to write a song. When I wrote it, he asked me to sing it for him, and he became very fond of it. This stayed in my memory until I wanted to publish it. I dedicated it to him and the dear respect [Boroumand]." The arrest and imprisonment of Reza Alamehzadeh in the years before the Islamic Revolution left his relationship with Davood Rashidi unfinished, just as it did with the famous lyricist. Mansour Tehrani, a lyricist who collaborated with this artist in the 1980s as a filmmaker, states: "After the revolution, they were somewhat seen as tyrannical figures; they were not favored to act in films, but gradually they became acceptable as they did not have significant backgrounds in Persian films, and the Ministry of Culture gave them more opportunities to work." Mohammad Nourizad: "This Mr. Rashidi was different from the robust Rashidi in terms of acting; aging had somewhat worn him down in terms of memory. He would forget lines, and we would repeat them several times. He would suddenly forget in the middle of a dialogue." Nevertheless, Mansour Tehrani sought Rashidi for his new film, Special Inspector: "In the film Special Inspector, where I worked closely with him, despite the harsh winter in the coal mine of Zareh, as the film was about coal miners, with Mr. Faramarz Gharibian." Tehrani speaks fondly of his collaboration with Rashidi in Special Inspector: "He worked very amicably. He would come to do his work promptly, even while he had another film scheduled with Mr. Mir Louhi at the same time." Throughout his career, Rashidi acted in many brilliant films, some of which, like his role as Agha Hosseini in Kandoo by Fereydoun Gole or Inspector with Six Fingers in Hezar Dastan, became memorable for cinema and television audiences. In the last years of his career, he acted in front of the camera of Mohammad Nourizad, a journalist and filmmaker known for his collaboration with Kayhan newspaper and conservatives, in the film Flags of the Castle of Kaveh. Mohammad Nourizad states that Davood Rashidi was his first choice for a role in this film due to his television series and nostalgic memories from Escape from the Trap and Kandoo: "However, we faced a problem that this Mr. Rashidi was different from the robust Rashidi in terms of acting; aging had somewhat worn him down in terms of memory. He would forget lines, and we would repeat them several times. He would suddenly forget in the middle of a dialogue." He adds: "I felt that I had to be patient with this great artist. Therefore, we created a calm atmosphere, gave him time. He was also upset to see that, for example, film negatives were being consumed. The crowd there was waiting, but ultimately he did his job, and we got what we wanted from his role." Mohammad Nourizad recalls the past to tell us about Rashidi's response to the proposal to appear in Flags of the Castle of Kaveh: "He suddenly faced a person named Nourizad to collaborate with or not; I did not see any resistance, although some were reluctant to work with a director associated with the government." Mansour Tehrani: "After the revolution, they were somewhat seen as tyrannical figures; they were not favored to act in films, but gradually they became acceptable as they did not have significant backgrounds in Persian films, and the Ministry of Culture gave them more opportunities to work. However, my experience was different: "But in my case, I saw a willingness on his part; he accepted very easily. Just as we worked with Shahaab Hosseini and Behzad Farahani, who were and are the bright figures of our artistic community." Later, Mohammad Nourizad, during the protests against the results of the 2009 elections, was arrested and imprisoned. He speaks of his reunion with Davood Rashidi after being released from prison: "After that, our friendship grew even more; I remember later when I came out of prison, I apparently saw him at Mr. Samandarian's ceremony, and he hugged me. He said, 'A Nourizad, my dear,' and I felt that the taste of that short opportunity we had together in that film had sweetened his experience and left a good memory of that collaboration for him." Davood Rashidi experienced his last cinematic appearance, albeit briefly, in the film Ekbatan by Mehrshad Karkhani, which some consider a tribute to the film Escape from the Trap, one of the significant films in the history of Iranian cinema and Davood Rashidi as an actor.