Shahrzad (Seasons 1–3)

Shahrzad (2015) is an Iranian historical drama you can watch online on iFILM. Director Hassan Fathi places a love story in the summer of 1953, when a royalist coup swept through Tehran and gave the Shah back his throne. The tagline captures it precisely: in that kind of storm, love is the first casualty.

Shahrzad wants to become a doctor. Farhad is a journalist who lands at the center of events at the exact moment when being there is dangerous. Both their fathers answer to the same powerful landowner, which means the couple's personal choices carry political consequences neither of them chose. Taraneh Alidoosti — one of Iran's most recognized actresses — plays Shahrzad with a quiet, stubborn resolve that anchors the whole story. Shot with careful period detail, the series captures Tehran in the fifties as a city on the edge. Stream Shahrzad (2015) online on iFILM.