Mamta Kalia

early years of the revolution, the feqh
rules provided the adequate justification
for categorizing the media and the arts
as Islamic (halal) or un-Islamic (haram).
Though a minority disagreed, significant
numbers among the ruling clergy felt
that cinema was a western excrescence
contaminating young Iranian minds. Of
particular concern was the exhibition
of the female body on the silver screen.
Consequently, in a burst of revivalist
fervor, almost 180 cinema halls were
burnt and razed to the ground (32 alone
in Tehran), including Rex - Abadan’s
most prestigious cinema hall. Moreover,
the Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guard)
began to hound filmmakers and actors,
either eliminating them ruthlessly or
driving them underground. The
Revolutionary government set up an
inspection group to cleanse the system
of film exhibition in Iran. Consequently,
out of the 2000 odd films (Iranian and
foreign) selected for this purpose, 1800
were rejected outright. This however,
did not diminish the import of foreign
films; only the focus shifted to comedies
or war and science fiction genres. Also
film production suffered because films
had to be re-edited to conform to Islamic
guidelines. But once religious passions
subsided, the revolutionary regime
realized that a more effective way of
dealing with cinema would be to Islamize
it. A change in government position also
helped to transform the public space,
which increasingly turned into a site
for animated debates about Islamic art
and aesthetics. In his two seminal
publications Kashful Asrar and Velayeti-Faqih,
Khomeini denounced cinema as
an un-Islamic excrescence which served
the interests of western colonialism.
However, he was also aware of cinema’s
potential reach and influence:
We are not opposed to cinema, to radio
or to television…the cinema is a modern
invention that ought to be used for the sake
of educating people, but as you know it
was used instead to corrupt our youth. It
is the misuse of cinema that we are opposed
to… 9
Clearly as Khomeini viewed it, the
project of cinema had to be reworked
so that it could become an effective
instrument in the hands of the
revolutionary state for creating an
Islamic society in Iran. However,
Khomeini’s pronouncements evoked little
response from the film community. This
was primarily due to the extensive damage
caused to the industry in the early months
of the revolution. Iranian filmmakers
were also apprehensive that public
perception about cinema was far from
favorable. But the creation of the Farabi
Cinema Foundation and the Ministry
of Reconstruction, gradually helped
to restore the filmmaker’s faith in the
avowed agendas of the Revolutionary
State. 10
The most significant event in this
period however, was the creation of a
regulatory framework for the exhibition
of films and videos in 1982. The Ministry
of Islamic Culture and Guidance
April-June 2010 :: 131