During an interview with BBC Asian Network, Pakistani actor, Adnan Siddiqui shared his thoughts about collaboration with producers of famous Turkish series titled Diriliş: Ertuğrul.
Siddiqui, Humayun Saeed and makers of Diriliş: Ertuğrul are producing TV series titled Turkey Lala.
Talking about how he got the role of an executive producer for upcoming TV series, Siddiqui shared, “One fine day, my friend Dr Kashif Ansari called me from the US. He said, ‘Well, I’m going to Turkey.’ Of course, the Ertuğrul craze was everywhere at the time and he said, ‘You know, I’ll be visiting the sets of Ertuğrul, as well as the tomb of Ertuğrul, so come’.”
The Meray Paas Tum Ho star continued, “It hit me then, and I went to Dr Kashif and said, ‘Hey doctor, why aren’t you talking any business with them’?”
Talking about Diriliş: Ertuğrul’s popularity, the actor said, “You go anywhere now and people will know about Ertuğrul. My friend Boney Kapoor called me from India and said, ‘Listen, I finished this within 10 days.’ He loved it! Several Indians love it.”
Siddiqui also talked about his vision for the television series, “I thought if we are scratching their backs and if their content is coming to Pakistan, why can’t our content go there? Our actors should also be recognised on the streets of Taksim Square or anywhere. That’s not the case because we don’t promote our own countrymen. My only concern was initiating an exchange programme.”
The 51-year-old revealed that 20% of the upcoming series will be filmed in Pakistan whereas, 80% of it will be shot in Turkey.
Siddiqui further stated, “They’ll be deciding on what the actors will do. My job is to… I don’t want to promote any nepotism. I don’t want to promote any favoritism., I just want to be a nice, liberal and neutral executive producer.”
Ye Dil Mera actor said, “Turkey Lala would be dubbed in Urdu, Turkish and English.”
Siddiqui concluded, “Production wise, Turkey has surpassed India. So the only way we can penetrate the international market now is through Turkey, And after this, we are also planning to make a series on the Mughals. So Turkey Lala is just the beginning.”
