[custom_adv] Naser Malek Motiee was the much-loved veteran of the golden age of persian cinema in the 1960s and 1970s.The actor and director, who has died aged 88, belonged to a generation of entertainment stars whose careers were cut short by the revolution of 1979. [custom_adv] So strongly were they identified with the era of Mohammad Reza Shah, the monarch deposed by Ayatollah Khomeini, that they were unofficially banned. [custom_adv] So strongly were they identified with the era of Mohammad Reza Shah, the monarch deposed by Ayatollah Khomeini, that they were unofficially banned. [custom_adv] Working-class, religious but averse to making money from rackets, the jahels differed from gangsters for they strove for a sense of machismo pegged to codes of honour and a sense of justice. [custom_adv] They were persian cinema’s samurai but with their trademark black suits, fedoras and a white handkerchief.Sniffed at as laats, or louts, by the well-to-do, the screen jahel was the archetypal loveable rogue seeking redemption from past sins, turning from villain into hero in the process – Malek Motiee’s screen portrayals of the jahel are still widely regarded as unmatched. [custom_adv] His love of cinema began early – his father ran a cinema. In the early 1940s, in his late teens, Malek Motiei was a full-time sports instructor at a primary school in capital. He got a minor role, playing himself, in the 1949 film Spring Variation. [custom_adv] He played himself again in 1951’s The Vagabond, planting the seed of a popularity was to grow among persian cinemagoers across social divides. [custom_adv] Playing the lead in 1962’s The Velvet Hat – a reference to the “kola chapeau” donned by jahels – catapulted him to national treasure status. It was an instant classic of the genre. [custom_adv] While the offers rolled in, he faced a problem: he had been typecast as the wide boy with a fedora – not that that would matter in the long run. [custom_adv] With the arrival of “Islamic and revolutionary” values, his career was done for along with a generation of actors, pop singers and even classical singers. [custom_adv] In 1982 Malek Motiee did appear in The Imperilled, a prison-break thriller based on the revolution, but did not take his next role until the well-received 2014 film Negar’s Role. [custom_adv] Malek Motiee starred in and directed dozens of films prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Afterward, the state broadcaster, the homeland Broadcasting (IRIB), and the ruling establishment imposed a media ban on prerevolutionary celebrities. [custom_adv] With few exceptions, Malek Motiee was also barred from acting and directing any films in persian due to strict restrictions placed on the movie industry after the revolution. [custom_adv] "The End Of The Media Ban," the reformist Aftab-e Yazd newspaper wrote in a May 27 editorial that highlighted the irony of state media’s coverage of Malek Motiee's death. [custom_adv] "The news of his death was announced by state TV, though his presence on TV was restricted before that," the daily added. [custom_adv] "Farewell To The Great King Of Iranian Cinema," a headline in the financial daily Donya-ye Eqtesad read.
