Muhteşem Yüzyıl

*Muhteşem Yüzyıl*
Muhteşem Yüzyıl
Written by	Meral Okay
Directed by	Yağmur Taylan; Durul Taylan
Starring	Halit Ergenç; Nur Fettahoğlu; Nebahat Çehre; Okan Yalabık; Meryem Uzerli; Filiz Ahmet; Mehmet Günsür; Burak Özçivit
Country of origin	Turkey
Original language	Turkish
No. of seasons	2 (List of Seasons)
No. of episodes	63
Production
Producer	Tims Production
Production locations	Istanbul, Edirne, Marmaris
Running time	~70-130 min.
Original release
Network	Show TV (2011); Star TV (2012)
Release	January 5, 2011 - present

Muhteşem Yüzyıl (Turkish pronunciation: [muhteˈʃem ˈjyzjɯl], Template:Lang-en) is a Turkish prime time historical soap opera television series. It was originally broadcast on Show TV and then transferred to Star TV for its second season. It is based on the life of Süleyman I (also known as Suleiman the Magnificent), the longest reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Hürrem (a.k.a. Roxelana), the slave girl who became his queen.^[2]

Plot

The "Magnificent Century" of the Ottomans refers to the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent , and the series dramatizes the intrigues of his harem and court.

At the age of twenty-six, when his rule began, Sultan Süleyman sought to build an empire in this world more powerful and more extensive than Alexander The Great of Macedonia and to render the Ottomans invincible.

Throughout his 46-year reign, Sultan Süleyman became known as the greatest warrior and ruler of the East and West. The young Süleyman ascended to the throne after receiving the news of his crowning at a hunting party in 1520. Unaware that he would be embarking on a reign that would later be considered the pinnacle of Ottoman rule, he left behind his consort Mahidevran and their son, little prince Mustafa, at his palace in Manisa, and, accompanied by his close friend and companion Pargalı İbrahim, took the road to Topkapı Palace in İstanbul.

While they were on route, an Ottoman ship sailed off from Crimea across the Black Sea, bringing kidnapped Christian female slaves as gifts for the Ottoman palace. On this ship was Alexandra La Rossa, the daughter of a Ukrainian Orthodox minister, who saw her father mother, and fiance being killed while kidnapped. This young girl, who had been kidnapped from her family and sold to the Ottoman palace as a slave, would become Hürrem (Roksolana), the consort who so captivated Sultan Süleyman that he took the nearly unprecedented step of making her his wife. She would bear his sons and rule his empire together with him through bloodshed and intrigue.

As Sultan Süleyman ruled his empire, he allowed his great passion for Hürrem a heavy influence in his court.

The television series focuses on the relationships between the members of the imperial household, especially the romantic entanglements and rivalries. The animosity between Hürrem and Mahidevran, and Hürrem's rise as Süleyman's favorite while pregnant with his son, her fall from favor after her son's birth and her eventual return to grace, provide the main subject matter of the series. Significant subplots include the affection between the Grand Vizier and one of the ladies of the royal household and the tension between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire.

Sezon 1 (Season 1)

It starts off when the Sultan Suleiman is going to come back from a encounter while he was with the future Pasha, Ibrahim the Pargali. Meanwhile, Alexandra La Rossa (later Hurrem)is taken by a Tatar slave raid on her village. Because of the Tatar slave raid- Her father, mother, and (unconfirmed) her sister are killed; but her boyfriend Leo survives and escapes (but she thinks that he's dead). On the ship to the Topkapi palace is other women including her best friend Maria (later Gulnihal).

When she (Alexandra) arrives , she is taught a lesson - that if she became a favorite ("hatun") , and gave birth to the sultan's son, she would become a Sultan and rule the world. So, when the Sultan is passing by and all the concubines are forced to bow/bend in respect , she doesn't and she screams out his name loud and when he looks at her , she faints and he catches her. Since then, she became a favorite. When she was a favorite, the Sultan named her Hurrem. She then converted to Islam.

On the (near) end of the 3rd episode, Mahidevran (the other sultana) gets into a fight with her and beats her up severely because she blamed her for her miscarriage. When Suleiman discovers, he develops a hate on Mahidevran.

Later on, Hurrem gets pregnant with the Sultan's first son, Mehmet. While she's pregnant, Suleiman called her into his room for eating sweets, and those sweets were poisoned by Mahidevran. She eats the sweets, and then she faints but Suleiman manages to rescue her. Then again the hate on Mahidevran by Suleiman increases.

Then you can see that after one of Suleiman's battles, Victoria (later Sadika)has her husband killed by Suleiman in the attack and then goes to Istanbul to take revenge.

Then, Hurrem gets pregnant with the Suleiman's first and only Daughter, Mihrimah Sultan. After she gives birth , later on, she makes a party in the Harem. She then gets in a fight with a favorite, Ayse Hatun and threatens to kill her. Then , Sadika kills Ayse because Ayse discovered that she was up to something, and because Hurrem threatened her, all evidence proves that it is Hurrem who killed her. Then , Suleiman banishes her to the old palace (the Crimean palace).

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Pasha marries Hatice Sultan (Sultan's sister)

Ibrahim Pasha tells Hurrem that she can come back to the Topkapi palace if she agrees to kiss Mahidevran's dress. She refuses initially, but then she agrees.

Leo , Hurrem's (ex) boyfriend finds out where Hurrem is and becomes the royal painter for the Sultan to get close to her.

Ibrahim Pasha discovers about Hurrem's relations with Leo, so he tell's Hurrem that she has to feed Leo with poisoned Turkish delights or else he will tell the Sultan himself.

In the last episode of the season, the end of it, It is shown that Suleiman is in a tent outside enjoying the view and eating grapes (outside Ibrahim pasha's palace) and Sadika is supposed to serve him. The last 3 minutes are Sadika coming with a tray with a glass of water on it but with a dagger under it, and Hurrem is crying while she is feeding Leo the poisoned delights. And then Suleiman is threatened with the dagger around his neck.

Main characters

Actor name	Role name	Explanation
Halit Ergenç	Suleiman the Magnificent	The 10th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire
Nur Fettahoğlu	Mahidevran Sultan	The Sultan's concubine, mother of the Sultan's first child
Meryem Uzerli	Hürrem	The second concubine wife, mother of five of the Sultan's children
Nebahat Çehre	Ayşe Hafsa Sultan	Valide Sultan and Selim I's wife
Okan Yalabık	Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha	Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
Selma Ergeç	Hatice Sultan	Suleiman's and Beyhan's sister
Filiz Ahmet	Nigar Kalfa	servant and apprentice in the harem
Alp Öyken	Pope Clement VII	Pope of the Roman Catholic Church during that time
Selma Keçik	Daye Hatun	The Queen Mother's Maid
Nihan Büyükağaç	Gülşah	Mahidevran's Maid
Selim Bayraktar	Sümbül Ağa	chief eunuch of the harem
Fatih Al	Matrakçı Nasuh	mathematician, historian, geographer, miniaturist, inventor
Mehmet Günsür	Şehzade Mustafa	Shehzade (Prince)
Burak Özçivit	Malkoçoğlu Bali Bey	hasodabaşı
Seçkin Özdemir	Leo	Painter , in love with Hurrem
Pınar Çağlar	Beyhan Sultan	Suleiman's and Hatice's sister
Ezgi Eyüboğlu	Aybige Hatun	Valide's niece ,Krimea's Princess ,in love with Bali Bey
Yüksel Ünal	Şeker Ağa	Chef of saray kitchen
Bergüzar Korel	Monica Terese	Griti's Sister
Engin Günaydın	Gül Ağa	Trustworthy of hurrem
Ipek Yalova	Isabella Fortuna	Princess of Castillie , one of the favorites of Suleyman

International Broadcasts

Country	Network	Premiere date
Morocco	Medi1 TV	January 2012
Serbia	Prva srpska televizija	14 February 2012
Slovakia	TV Doma	20 December 2011
Russia	Domashny	January 14, 2012
Azerbaijan	Lider TV	December 2011
Czech Republic	TV Barrandov	22 December 2011
Kazakhstan	Khabar	20 March 2012
Kazakhstan	El Arna	18 June 2012
Albania	Albanian Screen	December 2011
Macedonia	Kanal 5	17 December 2011
UAE	Dubai TV	2012
Middle East	Orbit Showtime Network	November 2011
Bulgaria	bTV	2012
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Televizija OBN	2012

Controversy

The show generated controversy and complaints from some viewers, for what they referred to as a "disrespectful", "indecent" and "hedonistic" portrayal of the historical sultan.^[2]^[3] Turkey's Radio and Television Supreme Council, known as RTÜK, claimed they had received over 70,000 complaints about the show and warned Show TV to publicly apologise for wrongly exposing "the privacy of a historical person".^[2] The Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned the show as "an effort to show our history in a negative light to the younger generations."^[2] Small groups of Islamists and Nationalists protested the studio but the show remains popular with viewers, with consistently high ratings.^[2]

References

^ "Turkish scriptwriter, actress Meral Okay passes away". Zaman (newspaper). 2012-04-09. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Fowler, Suzanne (2011-03-20). "Magnificent Century divides Turkish TV viewers over the life of Suleiman". The Observer. Retrieved 2011-03-20. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
^ "Muhtesem Yuzyil "Magnificent Century" takes Turkey by storm". Istanbul View. Retrieved 2011-03-20.

External links

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Mta xhejni

[zaman-1] "Turkish scriptwriter, actress Meral Okay passes away". Zaman (newspaper). 2012-04-09. Retrieved 2012-04-15.

[observer-2] Fowler, Suzanne (2011-03-20). "Magnificent Century divides Turkish TV viewers over the life of Suleiman". The Observer. Retrieved 2011-03-20. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

[iview-3] "Muhtesem Yuzyil "Magnificent Century" takes Turkey by storm". Istanbul View. Retrieved 2011-03-20.

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