# The Frog (Iranian TV series)

The Frog (Persian: قورباغه, romanized: Ghoorbāgheh) is an Iranian crime and mystery TV series incorporating magical realism, written, edited and directed by Houman Seyyedi and produced by Ali Asadzadeh, produced in 2020–2021. It is Houman Seyyedi's first episodic project, the first episode of which was supposed to be released on December 15, 2020, but was delayed by a court order. Eventually, the first episode aired on December 23, 2020.

## Plot

   In The world is a small place for me, I feel closed everywhere and I can not breathe. It's as if I've seen all these moments before, the trees, the sound of the waterfall, the frogs, I see them when I'm dying.
On Chaharshanbe Suri, three friends named Ramin (Saber Abr), Farid (Ashkan Hassanpour), and Javad (Shahrooz Del Afkar) after stealing the weapon of a wounded officer, rob Noori (Navid Mohammadzadeh), Ramin's childhood classmate, who has become a rich and mysterious man...

## Cast

| Actor | Character | Details |
| Saber Abar | Ramin Fayazi | Javad and Farid's friend |
| Navid Mohammadzadeh | Noori Zarnegar | Ramin's childhood classmate, gang leader |
| Sahar Dolatshahi | Faranak Bahrami | Ramin University colleague, material producer, laboratory employee, Ramin's past mistress |
| Fereshteh Hosseini | Leila | Noori's sister, Soroush's love interest |
| Houman Seyyedi | Amirali Shamsabadi | |
| Mohammad Amin Sherbaf | Soroush Gholipour | Abad and Nouri's friend, In love with Leila |
| Nima Mazaheri | Abad | Soroush's friend |
| Mehran Ghafourian | Kian | |
| Anahita Afshar | Negar | Amirali's wife |
| Shahrooz Delafkar | Javad Azizi | Ramin and Farid's friend |
| Ashkan Hassanpour | Farid | Ramin and Javad's friend |
| Maneli Rasouli | Young Leila | |
| Esmaeel Soltanian | Nasser Fayazi | Ramin's father |
| Ehsan Amani | | |
| Yadollah Shademani | Abolfazl Zarnegar | Noori's father |
| Omid Mohammadzadeh | Young Nasser | Ramin's father in young |
| Samaneh Moniri | Young Shahin | Ramin's mother in young |
| Peyman Mirzaei | Hassan | Aunt Ramin's husband |
| Ali, Pianist | Piano player in the movie | |
| Youna Tadin | Young Ramin | |
| Moein Shahcheraghi | Saeed | Ramin's sister husband |
| Peyman Pazoki | | |
| Hadi Taslimi | Farhad | Javad's addicted brother |
| Amirparviz Tabrizchi | Foaad | Leila’s ex |
| Fatemeh Mortazi | | |
| Vehid Abdullahi | | |
| Nafas Mohammadi | Nafas, Zari | Foaad’s sister |
| Alireza vatan parast | Ali v | Piano player in the movie |
| Sepehr Sepi | Ali | Piano player in the movie |

## Production

The Frog is the first series directed by Houman Seyyedi and is also Navid Mohammadzadeh's first series. Filming started in 2019 and was stopped due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, filming finished in the summer of 2020 and 15 episodes were produced. The filming of the Frog took about two years.

## Distribution

Negotiations were held for the release of the series on Netflix, but no agreement was reached, and the series was finally released on Namava (an Iranian streaming service). The first episode of the series is an open interpretation of La Haine. 48 hours after the release of the first episode, the series set a record with 40 million views in Iranian home video.

## Episodes

| Episode number | Episode title | Episode time | Date of Release |
| 1 | Africa | 48 minutes | 23 December 2020 |
| 2 | Kill the dogs | 52 minutes | 28 December 2020 |
| 3 | The despicable sticking to the column | 49 minutes | 4 January 2021 |
| 4 | The smell of rotten bitter orange | 45 minutes | 11 January 2021 |
| 5 | Red balloon | 45 minutes | 18 January 2021 |
| 6 | Find your seat | 50 minutes | 25 January 2021 |
| 7 | I found my seat | 53 minutes | 1 February 2021 |
| 8 | As a reminder, you have a meeting today | 47 minutes | 8 February 2021 |
| 9 | The cut finger | 45 minutes | 15 February 2021 |
| 10 | Devil's breath | 48 minutes | 22 February 2021 |
| 11 | Burn him in fire | 43 minutes | 1 March 2021 |
| 12 | Private | 54 minutes | 8 March 2021 |
| 13 | Conspiracy theory | 53 minutes | 15 March 2021 |
| 14 | Red tears | 44 minutes | 22 March 2021 |
| 15 (The Final Episode) | The Frog | 72 minutes | 29 March 2021 |

## Reception
### Critical response

Massoud Farasati criticized the series in Haft program and said:
   In my opinion, The Frog is not so bad. I think we can talk about this series and especially about directing. I think Seyyedi is ahead of his previous film, but its script is weak.
Brian O’Shea, CEO of The Exchange:
   Houman is an undeniable talent and rising star. His award-winning features honed his incredible eye and ability to pace a suspenseful story and build a complex world filled that entertains audiences that love all genres. We are incredibly happy to bring this amazing series to the rest of the world. Much like Fauda, Elite, and others, this foreign language series is primed to take the world by storm.

### Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
| 2021 | 21st Hafez Awards | Best Television Series | The Frog | resigned |
| 2021 | 21st Hafez Awards | Best Director – Television Series | Houman Seyyedi | resigned |
| 2021 | 21st Hafez Awards | Best Screenplay – Television Series | Houman Seyyedi | resigned |
| 2021 | 21st Hafez Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Saber Abar | resigned |
| 2021 | 21st Hafez Awards | Best Actor – Television Series Drama | Navid Mohammadzadeh | resigned |
| 2021 | 21st Hafez Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Fereshteh Hosseini | resigned |
| 2021 | 21st Hafez Awards | Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Sahar Dolatshahi | resigned |
| 2022 | 1st Iranian Cinema Directors' Great Celebration | Best Home Video Director | Houman Seyyedi | Nominated |