Zire Tigh (meaning "Under the Blade" in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

) was an Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 television series broadcast by the IRIB network. The series was finished after 19 episodes, and was extremely popular with viewers. It could be seen Wednesday nights after the nightly national news on Channel 1

Channel 1 (Iran)

Channel 1 is one of five nationally-broadcast television channels in Iran.Channel 1 was the first national television channel in Iran, and is now the oldest Iranian television channel having been established in 1966...

 in Iran. The show was later re-aired shown daily on IRIB 1, IRIB 2 and IRIB 3 for those living out of the country. The show's last episode aired March 12, 2007.

Description

Zire Tigh shows the lives of two families who are extremely close, yet are torn apart by a saddening event.

Mahmood and Jafar are two close working class friends who work with each other at a refrigerator factory. Their families are also very close to each other, as Jafar's son is engaged to Mahmood's daughter.
Jafar's older brother Ghodrat opposes the engagement. Ghodrat wants his daughter to marry Jafar's son. Ghodrat and his friends attempt to split up the two families in order to sabotage the engagement.

Mahmood who is the head of the storage and inventory facility at the factory, is fired from his job after allegations of theft come up. Mahmood and Jafar get into a fight and Mahmood accidentally kills Jafar. This leads to a rift between the two families, including the engaged couple as well as other people close to Mahmoood and Jafar.

Cast

The cast of Zire Tigh was considered to be one of its strong points. Parastooyi, Motamed Arya, Pesyani and Tahmoores are all famous in Iran's movie industry

Cinema of Iran

The cinema of Iran is a flourishing film industry with a long history. Many popular commercial films are annually made in Iran, and Iranian art films win praise around the world....

, and it is rare for cinematic actors to star in a major television series. Parviz Parastooyi's performance in particular was widely praised..

• Parviz Parastooyi
  Parviz Parastooyi
  Parviz Parastui is an Iranian actor and singer.- Career beginning :Parviz Parastui had worked in judicature before he became an actor. He began his career by starring in the film Diar-e Asheghan...
  
  as Mahmood Foroughi
• Fatemeh Motamed Arya as Tahereh Foroughi: Mahmood's wife
• Siavash Tahmoores as Ghodrat Omidvar: Jafar's brother
• Kurosh Tahami as Reza Omidvar: Jafar's son
• Elham Hamidi
  Elham Hamidi
  Elham Hamidi is an Iranian actress. She acted in The Kingdom of Solomon film as Miriam.-Selected filmography:*2010: Mokhtar Nameh *2010: The Kingdom of Solomon*2009: Mahya*2008: Prophet Joseph*2007: Sargije*2006: Zir-e tigh...
  
  as Maryam Foroughi: Mahmood and Tahereh's daughter
• Atila Pesyani as Jafar Omidvar
• Shabnam Moghaddami as marziyeh

Reception

The show was very popular with television viewers in Iran. According to a survey taken by IRIB, more than 80% of those who were surveyed watched the show, and a large percentage of them said they were saddened while watching it. Additionally the viewers thought the acting was the strong point of the show and the program's sometimes depressing mood was considered its negative.