Leyla and Mecnun
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. 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. 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