January 17-2014
. . . tops at box office
Six men working on special effects for a war movie were killed last week when explosives planned for a combat scene blew up prematurely.
The film was being directed by Masud Dehnamaki, who is Iran’s most successful director based on box office grosses.
Dehnamaki used to be a leader of Ansar-e Hezbollah, the hardline band of street thugs that specializes in beating and thrashing regime critics. But Deh-namaki had an epiphany more than a decade ago and shifted to filmmaking in 2002, where he has shown he has a natural talent.
Dehnamaki’s latest production is “Merajiha” (Departing to Divinity), set during the Iran-Iraq war, a genre that the regime prefers to support financially.
The film was being shot at Sacred Defense Cinematic Town, a location the government maintains near the highway between Tehran and Qom that is dedicated to making war films.
News reports said the premature explosion killed Ali-Akbar Ranjbar, the manager of the location site. Also killed were the visual effects supervisor, his assistant, an assistant production manager, a stuntman and a supply staffer.
It wasn’t known if any of the actors or Dehnamaki were on the site at the time.
Since 2006, Dehnamaki has made three films in a series called “Ekhrajiha” (Outcasts), comedies about a band of misfits—not unlike his old acquaintances in Ansar-e Hezbollah—who end up at the front and are captured by the Iraqis. Those three films are reportedly the three highest grossing films in Iranian history.