Tehran
Introduction
One look at the new Hindi film Tehran and you can make out that there is a good story buried in there, somewhere. The geo-political setting is pretty much in play even as an Iran-Israel conflict in 2012 results in several skirmishes, and specifically three bomb blasts in Georgia, Thailand and India. But in that little setup at the start, you notice a sense of reluctance on the part of the filmmakers to stand a particular stand with respect to each country. Yes, the argument can be that geo-politics is a very complex subject matter, and that at this point, both Iran and Israel remain important players in the setup. But to maintain a neutral stance in a film with respect to a particular character, also spells doom in the context of things. So when the character of Rajeev (John Abraham) tells an Israeli personnel that a soldier kills a soldier, and that we don’t judge, a response in exchange of being told to kill Iranian people, you are aware of his stance in the film. The problem for me here was that that exactly made the character one-dimensional and straight-up vengeance driven. The fun with this type of a film is always in the complexity with respect to the geo-political equations between countries, and how that dictates the nuances with respect to the dynamics of the characters. And unfortunately, the film’s stand is similar to Rajeev’s stand too – neutral, just like India’s stand in so many geo-political issues in the middle east war (nothing wrong with that geo-politically speaking, but everything wrong with that from a cinematic point of view).
Story & Screenplay
Written by Ritesh Shah, Bindni Karia and Ashish Prakash, Tehran is seemingly a film that is heavily chopped to begin with. When it treads from one incident to another, without any specific buildup around it, you just know that the geo-political angle that would act as fillers in the drama is completely cut-out. Another indication remains its premiere on a lesser popular OTT as opposed to say Netflix or Amazon to steer further away from the limelight and the controversies. As a result, the writing plays it safe – just focusing on the main incident of the Delhi bombings of 2012, an Iranian covert operation on a foreign land, followed by the aftermath. And for Rajeev, the loss of a six year old flower selling girl is personal.
One of the reasons why the drama doesn’t fully work is because the character of Rajeev isn’t fully well defined. As a part of the broad strokes, you see him as a rebel, not following any protocol in bumping of a character early on in the film, and fabricating a story around it. He is in the same stoic mould as JP Singh from The Diplomat (2025), except that he isn’t afraid of using his guns here (although, the understated tone remains similar). But I wasn’t fully convinced with the trauma tagged to his character, something that just wasn’t shown enough to have any significant impact. His personal life also remains largely unexplored, thereby giving his character a one-dimensional look in the film.
The issue with the drama is that it wishes to go from zero to one-hundred in a matter of moments. So when the investigation around the bombings begins, within a matter of minutes, you see the team zeroing on their suspect Afshar Hosseini (Hadi Khanjanpour), while trailing the in-land support through a couple of characters. There is zero buildup between scenes, that would allow the drama to simmer in a vessel of tension. As a result, the proceedings don’t boast of any depth at all, casually going from one event to another, even while globe-trodding from one country to another.
The geo-political stand-point is very slender in between the chaos too – almost confused on what the stand of the country should be, in a conflict that is largely International. To give you a perspective, there was a clear stance that was taken in The Diplomat (2025), wherein the opponent remained a man from Pakistan. That drama continued to remain devoid of jingoism while having the ability to take a stand against a nation, perhaps because it was easier to do so (and may I add, the stance was bang on, something that I fully endorse too). But the moment you remove Pakistan from the fray, why does the scenario change? Would there be no geo-political stand if another country would initiate covert operations with your citizens being a part of the collateral damage? It didn’t happen with a recent infamous incident involving one country that was immediately followed by a retaliation, so why must there be an exception for another country?
The drama severely suffers even because some of the other characters aren’t well developed. So during a shootout, when a character is martryed, the emotions just don’t come through enough. Having said that, there is another side to the story as well – the characters that Rajeev meets along the way towards his destination is interesting to witness. For instance, his tryst with a local Iranian man Tamir (Adam Karst) is the most real and organic piece of interaction in the entire film. You see a humane connection with two broken characters, particularly Tamir who did lose his son in a bomb blast, and now has a younger daughter to take care of. There is a beautiful subtext in play – that no matter who wins, people from both sides always lose in war. But I did wish that similar dynamics were explored a little more!
The conflict of Rajeev being cornered with Iran after him, Israel disowning him, and India abandoning him, was a good one. But sadly, the plot remained half-baked in trying to steer clear from a controversy. Another subplot including a timer set with respect to the India-Iran gas deal, never really circles back to the final day, again due to the same reason. And while the final act is understated, and poetic with the justice that is served, the several loose ends needed to be tied up along with the potential extraction of Rajeev, that was just exchanged through words. That accurately summed up the screenplay that had a lot of potential but chose to play it safe, thereby not leaving the desired impact.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
The dialogues are understated, and go well with the mood of the drama. The music is sombre too with that one song being introduced during a tense car chase sequence at the end, that adds nicely to the drama. The BGM though is less impactful, wherein the creative decision to allow the drama to do the talking, backfires. With a drama that doesn’t take a stand, it was imperative to elevate individual sequences in isolation to atleast create some sort of an impact, which wasn’t the case here. The cinematography is wonderful almost giving you a feeler of the camerawork in Zero Dark Thirty (2012). The pale hues of yellow truly add texture to the drama, even while using some interesting angles to depict the various covert operations in play.
The editing is extremely choppy here, and dare I say deliberately done? The finer details in between scenes remained non-existent, with the creative decision being to focus just on the covert mission, and in its process, jumping from one event to another. The detailing was missing, mainly due to its choppy editing. Director Arun Gopalan also misses the mark in wanting to play it safe, firstly with the world building, and secondly, with his sketchy characters. It is appalling on how the drama with so much potential ends up being just surface level stuff, almost giving an impression on how the drama may have been edited until the last moment to steer clear of the controversies. I could sense a reluctance on the filmmaker too, to fully commit to the written material. And that sadly brings the film down completely.
Performances
The performances are a mixed bag too with not all performers getting a chance to blossom with their characters. For instance, Madhurima Tuli as Rajeev’s wife and Elnaaz Nourozi as Layla are just there but don’t quite have a significant contribution to the drama. Aly Khan, Quashiq Mukherjee and Dinkar Sharma are impressive with their respective acts, but the writing keeps them in the background for most parts of the runtime. Manushi Chhillar really needs to be smarter with her film choices. As Divya, she is really treated as a sidekick here in a character that is so sketchy that you don’t feel any emotions around her fate.
Neeru Bajwa as Sheilaja is pretty solid here, using her upright body language to real good effect here. Adam Karst as Tamir is sincere and earnest while managing to impress. Hadi Khanjanpour as Afshar is subtly menacing and intimidating, while putting forth a commendable act. John Abraham at this point has mastered the stoic hero personality, literally playing to his strengths. As ACP Rajeev, he is pretty good in embracing the understated theme of the drama, and reacting accordingly as opposed to being loud. And this is a zone that I am enjoying to witness him in. If only his characterization was better, the impact of the character would have been even higher. <span;>
Conclusion
Tehran as a film had so much potential with its story, but it chose to play it safe while being reluctant to take a stand, a trait that is clearly visible with its choppy editing and sub-par execution. As a result, the drama is just about average while nothing much to write home about. There is also a lesson to be learnt here – ‘Understated’ doesn’t always mean ‘Good’, if the film chooses to play it safe! Available on Zee5.