Iconic pop legend Googoosh (aka Faegheh Atashin) has released a new, pro-gay song and video entitled Behesht (Heaven) that has earned her a new generation of fans as well howls of protest. Behesht portrays a lesbian couple in a relationship banned by both society and by their families. According to England’s The Guardian, which first broke the story, the video has already been viewed 1.2 million times.
The couple in the video are played by two Iranian actors, Pegah Ferydoni and Yasmine Azadi. As the video begins, Fereydoni’s character expresses love for her partner, who is not revealed until the last minute. “The end of this road is not clear, I know this, just like you do,” sings Googoosh. “Don’t tell me to stop loving, You can’t do that and I can’t either.” In many ways, it is similar to a gay-themed ad from Australia that ran last year showing a man over the course of a romance with someone off camera. At the end of the commercial, we learned that it is another man. As the ad closes, the tagline reads: “It’s time. End marriage discrimination.”
Navid Akhavan, who wrote and directed the video, said it had been viewed by thousands of Iranians online or via illegal satellite channels. “The reactions we have seen so far have been tremendous,” he said. “The comments I have read online and the messages I have received from people within the Iranian LGBT community have brought tears to my eyes.” But he added: “We knew from the start that because of its topic the video is going to be very controversial among Iranians, that’s why we expected negative feedback too, but that hasn’t bothered me, nor Googoosh.”
Googoosh, who had a string of hits until the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, made history when she decided to remain in her native country and refrained from performing or writing new material until 2000. But in the last couple of years, she has regained a large chunk of her following with an X-Factor-like show broadcast on Manoto1, a London-based show run by Iranian exiles.
The LGBT community in Iran faces harsh punishment up to and including death for simply living out their lives truthfully. By making this video, Googoosh hopes to remind people that they are far from alone.
Googoosh: “Behesht”
Written and Directed by Navíd Akhavan
Executive Producer Neda Kermani
Produced by Ehsan Haghighat
Lyrics by Roozbeh Bemani
Music and Arrangement by Alireza Afkari
Album: E’Jaz
Label: King Records
TRANSLATION OF THE LYRICS:
I fear this misleading road of doubt
I fear this dead end road
I am afraid of this feeling
that is still persistent between us
The end of this road is not clear
I know this, just like you do
Don’t tell me to stop loving
You can’t do that and I can’t either
We can’t go back to where we were
And we can’t find a way out of this dead-end
I know (they say) these feelings
should not be, but they are
I am beginning to be afraid of a dream
A dream we both might have dreamed
About the fact that we both
rotated anticlockwise
For escaping from this hell
there is no other way than to end this life
I don’t know but maybe even heaven
is not big enough for us
The end of this road is not clear
I know this, just like you do
Don’t tell me to stop loving
You can’t do that and I can’t either
We can’t go back to where we were
And we can’t find a way out of this dead-end
I know (they say) these feelings
should not be, but they are
