SAEDNEWS: The producer of the landmark series “Imam Ali” reveals that Ayatollah Khamenei personally annotated the script—praising the project but flagging the phrase “How refreshing!” for removal.
According to Saed News, Mohammad Beikzadeh, producer of the acclaimed religious drama “Imam Ali (peace be upon him),” recounted that the Supreme Leader meticulously reviewed the screenplay and was the sole clerical authority to provide written feedback. Drawing on a source list of some seventy‑plus historical texts, the production team had sought endorsements from senior scholars. While all lauded the script verbally, none committed their approval to paper—except Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Beikzadeh told Tasnim News Agency that when the annotated script returned from Khamenei’s office, it bore both an expression of divine goodwill and a precise intervention: a marginal note beside a line of dialogue reading “How refreshing!” (چقدر خنک!). The producer said the crew promptly excised that phrase.
The episode underscores the delicate balance between creative storytelling and religious sensitivity in Iran’s state‑backed media. “Imam Ali” sought to navigate this terrain by adopting a judicious approach to contested historical details, which left critics with no grounds for accusation of sectarian bias. Yet it was Khamenei’s hands‑on engagement that defined the project’s final shape, illustrating the Supreme Leader’s influence over cultural representation.
Beikzadeh also recalled that, despite early detractors who questioned the series’ fidelity to historical sources, the exhaustive bibliography quieted all dissent. Today, “Imam Ali” stands as a testament to collaborative scholarship and to the singular authority wielded by Iran’s highest cleric in matters of religious drama.
