‘Bidad’ review: A female singer fights to be heard in potent Tehran-set drama

Dir/scr: Soheil Beiraghi. Iran. 2025. 104mins.

Aspiring singer Seti (Sarvin Zabetian) has a voice that she wants to share with the world. But she is effectively silenced as a young woman in contemporary Iran. When Seti defies the regime and sings on the streets of Tehran, her performances go viral. Inevitably, the police muscle in and a tense standoff explodes into violence. Seti is rescued by an unlikely guardian angel, a shaven-headed, tattoed street tough (Amir Jadidi). The fourth film from Soheil Beiraghi, Bidad (the title translates as ‘Outcry’) is raw and rough around the edges. The writing is scrappy and some of the dialogue feels declamatory. Despite this, it is a fiercely potent work bursting with attitude and anger on behalf of a generation that will not easily be silenced.

A timely picture that taps into the spirit of young female defiance 

A film that shows the unfiltered side of Gen Z Iran, Bidad’s selection for the main competition at Karlovy Vary was kept under wraps until the last minute, ensuring Beiraghi and his team could leave the country safely. It is not the first time the filmmaker (who was investigated by the authorities while making this independent project) has fallen foul of the censors. His third feature Unpopular (2020) was banned from public showing in Iran for two years. His previous pictures include 2018’s Cold Sweat (released in the UK as Permission), which enjoyed a healthy festival run, despite significant restrictions from the Iranian authorities. Bidad is a timely picture that taps into the same spirit of young female defiance and rebellion captured in Mohammad Rasoulof’s Cannes 2024 prizewinner The Seed Of The Sacred Fig.

Women’s singing voices have been a flashpoint in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979. The country’s religious laws ban women from performing solo in public, particularly in front of mixed audiences. Despite this, many have turned to social media as a means to reach the public, sparking a crackdown by the authorities. One young woman, Zara Esmaili, was arrested in August 2024 after a clip of her performing Amy Winehouse’s ’Back To Black’ went viral. Her whereabouts are still unknown. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that one of the first songs that Seti hopes to perform is ’Back To Black’, although the bar is raided and closed down before she can sing a note. 

Zabetian brings a propulsive energy to her performance. Seti is in constant movement, burning around the nighttime streets of Tehran on her push bike, pausing only to deliver one of several bluntly written mission statements about her need to sing. And the kinetic camera matches her energy, weaving through underground music venues and tailing her bike rides. The editing, however, feels choppy and abrupt; there is a sense that a few plot points might have been shed along the way.

Indeed, Seti’s rise from street singer to viral superstar is virtually instantaneous, one of several aspects of the film that feel scattershot and hurried. Another is the explosive relationship between Seti and her alcoholic mother, which spirals into recriminations before we get to learn much about either of them. 

Elsewhere, the picture digs into the story with satisfying detail – the flirty, playful connection between Seti and her tattooed saviour, who calls himself ’Bebin’ (a widely used Persian exclamation that translates as ‘look’) is unlike anything we are accustomed to seeing in Iranian cinema, but it is persuasive and rather affecting. Jadidi’s performance, all street-swagger and slang but almost childlike under his US rapper trappings, is wildly unexpected – the actor is unrecognisable from his central role in Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero.

Seti lets Bebin tattoo her during the first night they spend together, she meets his dog and his prized marijuana plant, and they chastely share a bed. The second time they meet, Seti has been broken by a stint in prison. Her rich voice has been shattered and she stutters when speaking. They sleep next to each other again, this time on the roof of his truck. And the following day, this sweet-natured thug with angel-wing tattoos does his best to help find her voice again.