Leyla and Mecnun
Leyla ile Mecnun
Written by	Burak Aksak
Directed by	Onur Ünlü Murat Onbul
Starring	Ali Atay Melis Birkan Serkan Keskin Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan Cengiz Bozkurt Osman Sonant Köksal Engür Ege Tanman İştar Gökseven
Theme music composer	Mehmet Erdem Alper Atakan
Country of origin	Turkey
Original language	Turkish
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	144
Production
Producers	Orkun Ünlü Funda Alp
Production locations	Istanbul Ankara (Episode 13)
Cinematography	Serdar Ünlütürk Eyüp Boz (Season 1-2)
Editor	Murat Bör
Running time	80 minutes
Original release
Network	TRT 1 TRT HD Exxen (2021-2023)
Release	9 February 2011 (2011-02-09) – 31 March 2023 (2023-03-31)

Leyla ile Mecnun (Leyla and Mecnun) is a Turkish television comedy series. The series, set in Istanbul and directed by Onur Ünlü, premiered in 2011 on TRT. It is a surreal, absurdist comedy revolving around the parody of the poetic love story of Layla and Majnun. It released 1-3 seasons on TRT1 between 2011 and 2013, then 4-7 seasons on the streaming platform Exxen between 2021 and 2023.^[1]

Plot

Leyla and Mecnun were born in the same hospital and shared the same crib because of a shortage—hence the series' catchphrase, "They found each other from the beginning". They were named after the legendary lovers Layla and Majnun.^[2] Mecnun, a confused 25-year-old from a middle-class family, lives in an historic Istanbul neighborhood. Mecnun falls in love with Leyla at first sight, and becomes obsessed with her. Leyla, from an upper-class family, leads a different life than others in the neighborhood. She enjoys the time she spends with Mecnun, since life is more interesting with him. After Leyla's death, Mecnun becomes depressed. He tries to change the past. Leyla's parents donated her organs. Mecnun meets other 4 Leylas.

In original story of poet, After Majnun and Layla can't marry, Majnun is mad. He searches love in desert. He disconnects from the physical world. He connects to divine love from physical love in desert. After Layla met Majnun, Majnun doesn't know Layla. Truth Layla is in his mind for Majnun. So Layla died.

Other notable characters in the series are Dede, Iskender, Ismail, Erdal, Yavuz, and Arda. Dede, a character in Turkish folktales, appears in dreams to provide direction and foreknowledge. A surrealistic element of the show, Dede appears in one of Mecnun's dreams; when Mecnun wakes up, he sees Dede standing by his bed. Afterwards, he lives with Mecnun to help him with Leyla.

Iskender, Mecnun's father, drives an unreliable taxi and is devoted to his family. To make his son happy, he asks Leyla's father for permission for Leyla and Mecnun to marry despite repeated refusals.

Ismail, Mecnun's closest friend, is a colorful character who is loyal and pure at heart. It is learned in one episode that Ismail and his father were abandoned by his mother because her life was not colorful enough. Ismail takes this literally, and dresses accordingly. He was adopted by another family when his father became terminally ill. His father told Ismail that he was leaving to work as a seaman and would return someday, waving from the ship; since then, Ismail has been waving to passing ships every day from the shore. Nothing is known about Ismail's personal life or where he lives. He frequently changes jobs, failing at (or disliking) each one. Ismail is interested in genealogy, and notable people from the past (such as Beethoven, Picasso and Dostoyevsky) appear in his flashbacks as his distant relatives during most episodes.

Erdal is the neighborhood grocer, whose work defines his life. Sometimes greedy and inconsiderate, he neglects his friends and is tactless and pessimistic. With supermarkets springing up everywhere, Erdal personifies an endangered element of traditional Turkish society. His grocery store is a gathering place for the characters.

Yavuz, a friendly neighborhood thief, describes himself as a "performance artist". His justifications for stealing vary by episode and include helping his blind girlfriend, helping his friends and unrequited love. Yavuz' talents are used to benefit the neighborhood; he resents being called a thief, and always retorts: "Am I such a person?" He enjoys reading poetry.

Arda, Leyla's classmate, is also in love with her and his wealthy father tries to persuade her to marry his son. Arda, his father and their servants are the show's main antagonists.^[3]

Characters

• Mecnun Çınar (Ali Atay): Son of middle-class Pakize and Iskender and an underachieving distance education student
• Leyla Yılmaz (Ezgi Asaroğlu): Mecnun's first Leyla, who dies in a car crash and whose organs are donated by her parents
• İsmail Abi (big-brother Ismail) (Serkan Keskin): Mecnun's childhood friend, a job-hopper waiting for his father to return. He's known for his ether addiction.
• İskender (Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan): Mecnun's father, a taciturn taxi driver
• Ak Sakallı Dede (white-bearded grandpa) (Köksal Engür): Elderly man who first appears in Mecnun's dreams, later living with Mecnun and his father
• Erdal Bakkal (Cengiz Bozkurt): Miserly neighborhood grocery-store owner. Iskender's childhood friend, he is selfish and shameless.
• Yavuz (Osman Sonant): Thief who claims to be a performance artist. A master lock-picker who appreciates the lighter weight of LED televisions, he is a close friend of Mecnun.
• Arda (Ushan Çakır): Leyla's spoiled ex-boyfriend, who likes to show off with his father's money
• Sedef Leyla (Zeynep Çamcı): Pizza-delivery woman who is involved in Leyla and Şirin's car accident. Critically injured, she receives Leyla's liver. When Mecnun learns that her middle name is Leyla, he develops a crush on her.
• Şirin (Müge Boz): A clever physics student who is injured in Leyla and Sedef's car accident and receives Leyla's heart. Mecnun loves her, partly because she has his lover's heart, and she changes her name to Leyla for him.
• Ömer Yedinci (Atilla Şendil): Father of Leyla (Melis Birkan) and İskender's childhood friend, who appears in the third season, he owns a tire shop.
• Leyla Yedinci (Melis Birkan): Ömer's daughter, with whom Mecnun falls in love at first sight
• Pakize Çınar (Asuman Dabak): Mecnun's mother
• Metin Yılmaz (İştar Gökseven): Leyla's father
• Sevim Yılmaz: Leyla's mother
• Zeynep (Beste Bereket)
• Kamil (Mehmet Usta)
• Karabasan (Nightmare) (Köksal Engür): Arda's father
• Benjamin (Sarp Aydınoğlu)
• Nurten: Erdal's wife
• Leyla the Goth (Neslihan Aker): Nurten's niece
• Çakmasakallı dede (fake bearded grandpa)
• Hidayet (Cihan Ercan)
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Bülent Baytar)
• Zekiye (Esra Kızıldoğan)
• Telat Abi (Sadi Celil Cengiz)
• Kubilay (Kubilay Çamlıdağ)

Group "Leyla The Band"

Also, Soundtrack of "Leyla ile Mecnun". It's composed of "Leyla ile Mecnun" actors: Ali Atay, Onur Ünlü, Serkan Keskin, Osman Sonant, Fırat İkisivri, Sarp Aydınoğlu, Sarper Aksoy. Group's tour "Leyla ile Mecnun'a Veda & Ben de Özledim'e Merhaba" in 2013.

Book of Series

Screenwriter of series, Burak Aksak, published "Leyla ile Mecnun" in April 2018. He stated that this book has different final.^[4]

Spin Off "Ben de Özledim"

Leyla ile Mecnun was expected to be renewed for a new season. However it was cancelled after casts' support to the Taksim Gezi protest. The same actors filmed the TV series "Ben de Özledim" (2013-2014) about actors, screenwriter, director who have their TV series cancelled. The first episode of Ben de Özledim tells the finale of Leyla ile Mecnun, but Ben de Özledim is cancelled after 13 episodes.

Unbroadcast 3rd season finale

In the unbroadcast finale of the show, it was in series Bende Özledim. Short version of this scene released in 4 season of Leyla ile Mecnun.

It was to be revealed that Mecnun actually had an accident when he was a child, leaving him permanently bedridden. He could not talk or move. His mother left, and his father cared for him. In reality, the entire TV series had taken place in Mecnun's imagination.

There is more of a meaning to the characters and only some of them were translatable.

While Mecnun is sleeping, a tree leaf would wave through the window; this tree leaf is supposed to represent Yavuz. Mecnun can only see the tree's leaves shadow waving through the window; this is a reason as to why Yavuz in the show almost always goes into houses through the windows. Yavuz, the tree, was planted right in their back garden by Iskender and also gave its name.

Dede is a syringe that a doctor regularly injects to Mecnun. It is a medicine fighting diseases inside Mecnun. In the show, he fights negative thoughts by trying to get rid of them via talking.

Ismail is abgold fish Mecnun watches. Ismail is regularly in his bowl.

Leyla is Mecnun’s first grade crush. However, he has never seen Leyla nor talked to her as he has only heard her name. The reason why Leyla changes through the series is because Mecnun, while watching TV, sees different women so he assumes that that one of those women which he likes is named Leyla.

The living room seen in the show is where he usually is at so most of his life he is in this room.

Broadcast schedule

Awards

References