TEHRAN – Iranian actress and director Tinu Salehi plans to stage a story about the legendary Iranian Olympic gold-medalist wrestler Gholamreza Takhti in Tehran.

Takhti was found dead in a hotel room in Tehran in 1968 and the Persian dailies Kayhan and Ettelaat reported that he had committed suicide on account of his unhappy domestic life. However, a large group of people also believed that he was killed by the SAVAK intelligence services due to his disloyalty to the Shah’s regime.

“It’s not a biographical play,” Salehi told the Persian service of MNA on Sunday and added, “The whole story of the play is set in the hotel from the morning to night until he committed suicide. During this time, he reviews in his mind the people who influenced his life.”

Salehi gave no details about her cast and the exact date for the performance.

Takhti whose manly virtue and social activities during the 1960s made him a national hero has been the subject of several films and theaters after his death.

The latest was “Gholamreza Takhti” directed by Bahram Tavakkoli in 2019. It premiered during the 37th edition of the Fajr Film Festival.

Director Ali Hatami, known as the Hafez of Iranian cinema due to the native and poetic ambiance of his movies, was the first director who chose Takhti’s life story to turn into a film during the 1980s.

He began shooting the film titled “World Champion Takhti”, but it remained unfinished due to Hatami’s death in 1996.

Director Behruz Afkhami was then selected to complete the film, which critics called a good thriller, but it failed to solve the mystery of Takhti’s death.

Photo: Legendary Iranian Olympic gold-medalist wrestler Gholamreza Takhti.

MMS/YAW