TEHRAN – “Sattar Khan”, Ali Hatami’s 1972 movie on Sattar Khan, one of the heroes of Iran’s Constitutional Revolution, has been restored.

The National Film Archive of Iran released the restored version on Tuesday to celebrate the National Day of Cinema. The Persian service of ISNA published the news on Wednesday along with a trailer of the movie.   

Sattar Khan was a member of the revolutionary militia in Tabriz and also joined the constitutionalists in Tabriz in the Anjoman-e Haqiqat (the Truth Society).

The Constitutional Revolution began in 1905 and the Constitutional Decree was signed by Qajar king Mozaffar ad-Din Shah in the Saheb Qaranieh Palace on August 6, 1906.

Hatami began shooting “Sattar Khan” in the summer of 1972. After its release in March 1973, the film was criticized over allegedly distorting the character of Sattar Khan. However, some experts on Iranian history praised the film.

“I have never claimed that I a historian,” Hatami once said in an interview.

He noted that the film is not a documentary and added, “I have always made my own story of a historical, social and cultural event, and sometimes, the outcome has had little similarity to the event.” 

“To write the screenplay for the film, I carefully read almost all the historical books on the Constitutional Revolution, which had many principal contradictions,” Hatami explained.

Ali Nasirian portrayed Sattar Khan in the film and Ezzatollah Entezami starred as Heidar Khan Amu Oghli, Sattrakhan’s comrade.

“Unfortunately, the film did not receive the acclaim it deserves,” Entezami once said in an interview.

“‘Sattar Khan’ is Ali Hatami’s narrative. In this situation in which no one cares about history, his efforts to make the movie are highly respected… I still believe that no one can write like Hatami,” Entezami noted.

Photo: A scene from Ali Hatami’s 1972 historical drama “Sattar Khan”

MMS/YAW