Namava’s Bold Step by Adapting “Savushun”/ “Savushun” Redefines Adaptation in Iranian Streaming Platforms

TEHRAN (Iran News) Its production and release mark a significant turning point for the Iranian streaming platform Namava. Until now, none of the Iranian platforms has dared to adapt such a major and well-known literary work as “Savushun” into a TV series—an unprecedented move by the Iranian streaming platform Namava.

Most streaming services, aware of the challenges and difficulties of adapting prominent literary works into series, aim to produce low-risk, highly viewable content that stays away from controversy and disputes.

Platforms, when adapting iconic works of Persian literature, are constantly faced with the fear of being judged and rejected by the original readers.

In countries with mature film and television industries, this fear disappeared long ago. There, adaptation is not seen as a risk but as an opportunity.

The production of adapted films and series—especially in the United States—has not only boosted the entertainment industry but also influenced the country’s literature. To such an extent that most fictional books published and being published in the country are structured in a way that makes them easily adaptable into screenplays.

In Hollywood, this change began decades ago and has now fully evolved.

Legendary director John Huston, who adapted Dashiell Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon,” once remarked that Hammett had written the book “as if it needed no screenplay.”

This observation by John Huston reveals how American fiction books adapted have been and continue to be more visual than dialogue-driven.

In many Hollywood productions, authors themselves contribute to the screenplay or serve as creative consultants.

This is the reason the art of adaptation has reached such sophistication there. Most prominent movies are also adaptations. In such a way, it can be said that literature and the performing arts have reached a state of interaction.

In Iran, however, most modern novels remain heavily dialogue-driven and lack strong visual structure, making the process of adaptation considerably more challenging. Few writers, such as Sadegh Hedayat, possess the cinematic imagination that allows their prose to translate easily to film.

As a result, turning Persian novels into compelling visual stories carries a much higher creative risk.

While modern Iranian literature has remained largely dialogue-driven, audiences of films and series connect more through visuals than through dialogue.

“Savushun,” like most Persian fiction, is dialogue-heavy, which made Namava’s adaptation a formidable task. The book is engaging and enjoyable to read, but if the same qualities were transferred to a series, the audience would likely enjoy reading it more than watching it.

Namava’s decision to move forward with the project therefore stands as a genuine act of creative audacity—one that involved significant risk but ultimately paid off.

The series’ success is evident: had it not resonated with audiences, it wouldn’t have received such a warm welcome. Available viewer statistics and audience feedback indicate a strong positive reception and audience satisfaction with the series and the Namava platform, making Namava a trailblazer among Iran’s streaming platforms in Persian media.