Dillip Hiro, author of "Iran Under the Ayatollahs", said that anti-shah groups were not likely to have caused the fire, since the Cinema Rex was located in a working-class neighbourhood and was showing the film "Gavaznha," starring well-known actor Behrouz Vossoughi, which Hiro claimed had "passed the censors with considerable difficulty." Hiro also said that the deliberate closure of the cinema doors and the local fire station's efforts, which he described as "tepid", strengthened the public belief that the Shah had the cinema burned.