TEHRAN -- “The issues that interested me during the war (Iran-Iraq) are very noticeable in ‘The Outcasts’, he said during a review session held for his film at Mehr News Agency on Sunday.

He noted that since beginning his work in various newspapers and in the cinema, there have been many changes in his attitudes. “No doubt my thoughts and outlook have changed; any how, man is always changing, so Dehnamaki of the 1980s and 1990s must be different from Dehnamaki of the year 2000.”

“In the movie ‘The Outcasts’ I have portrayed the same ideology that I have always described in my writing. The words ‘Dehnamaki has changed’ are not peoples’ words, they are invented by the media,” he added.

“I believe that the movie is of a spiritual nature, since it concentrates on religion, mysticism and morality,” he remarked.

Dehnamaki further added that he had wanted the writer Peyman Qasemkhani to write the screenplay, but it had not been possible.

To the question asked about the possibility of an ‘Outcasts 1’ and an ‘Outcasts 2’, he said, “I have not had time to concentrate on any new work after ‘The Outcasts’, but I am planning to work on a screenplay titled ‘Scandal”.

The comedy “The Outcasts”, which was also written by Dehnamaki, tells the story of Majid Suzuki, a hooligan from southern Tehran who falls in love with Narges, the daughter of Mirza, a pious man. Majid must reform himself to marry Narges. So he decides to head for the battlefront during the Iran-Iraq war and his protégés follow him.

Prominent Iranian comic figure Akbar Abdi, Amin Hayaii, Kambiz Dirbaz, Mohammadreza Sharifinia (also a casting director), Seyyed Javad Hashemi, Qasem Zare’, Merila Zarei, Niusha Zeighami, and Negar Foruzandeh are the main actors.