Al-Monitor | Rohollah Faghihi: Name-calling and thinly veiled insults on the screen are�no novelty for Iran's�state broadcaster, but a recent feud between the country�s harshest film critic and a sharp-tongued talk show host has spilled to other media outlets, causing the show to go off-air.


The controversy started Nov.�30, when Arash Zellipour, the young TV host of �I and You,��a one-on-one interview show,�decided to take on Masoud Farasati, arguably Iran�s most-feared film critic.

It was far from a soft encounter between the elderly critic, with horn-rimmed glasses, a long beard and deliberate�slow speech, and the younger host. With a wave of his hand, Zellipour interrupted a long explanation by Farasati to suggest that the critic�s critiques had more to do with his own ego than with Iranian cinema.

�You are not as influential [on Iranian cinema] as you assume. You keep saying, 'I' and 'I' and 'I,' and you just seem to be too fond of yourself,� Zellipour said, questioning whether Farasati�s remarks on films "contributed at all� to Iranian cinema.

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