Tollywood
Excerpt from an article on the rise of Turkish soap operas, not only in Turkey, but the entire region (click for full article):
Turkish soap operas have lately become so popular in Middle Eastern countries that in this upcoming season, 18 soap operas will be airing in 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, reported daily Hürriyet on Saturday…
The soap opera craze started when one series, “Gümüs,” or “Noor” in Arabic, became an obsession among young women in Saudi Arabia…. The show, based around a love story between the “poor but proud” Noor and the “rich but macho” Mohannad, has indeed affected millions of people in countries such as Morocco, Dubai, Algeria, Syria, Tunisia, Jordan and especially Saudi Arabia. The lead actors have become big-time celebrities on Arab streets….
In Saudi Arabia, the only country with viewer ratings, about 3 to 4 million people watch the show daily, out of a population of nearly 28 million, The Associated Press reported…
Today, the overall export revenue from Turkey’s soap opera industry has reached $3 million… The number of Arab tourists that visited Turkey has increased from 30,000 to 100,000 this year…
“Some Muslim preachers in the West Bank and Saudi Arabia have taken notice, saying the show is un-Islamic and urging the faithful to change channels.”… “This series collides with our Islamic religion, values and traditions,” the AP quoted Hamed Bitawi, a lawmaker for the militant Islamic Hamas and a preacher in the West Bank city of Nablus, as saying….
“A West Bank poster vendor has ditched Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein for Noor and Mohannad,” [AP] reported.
The values bug was bound to be caught by Turkish ‘authorities’, too. Here it is: Makbule Turk ailesini tehdit ediyor.