After the tremendous success of the television series "The Magnificent Century", in Turkey they decided to remove its continuation. This time, the main character was the Greek Anastasia, who received the nickname Kesem in the harem. Such a strong and beautiful woman as she had worthy opponents. Among them is the half-sister of the ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Ahmed I - Dilruba Sultan.
The television series "The Magnificent Century: Kesem Sultan"
The Magnificent Century has become one of the most successful television series filmed in Turkey over the past few decades. For four seasons, the whole world, with bated breath, watched how the wives, children and sisters of the great Suleiman fought for power and love.
Soon, after the shooting, the producers of the project decided to film its continuation, but this time events unfold during the reign of Suleyman’s great-great-grandson - Sultan Ahmed I.
Contrary to expectations, this television project could not reach the level of its predecessor, but it turned out to be very popular in many countries, in particular, in Greece and Russia. For this reason, it was extended for the second season.
Due to the low ratings, the financing of the project decreased significantly in the second half of the season, which is very noticeable in the scenery, as well as the costumes of the actors. However, the producers hope that the second season will be more successful. But the fans are full of doubts, since in the last series of “Kesem” the most vivid characters were killed: Safie, Halime and Dilruba Sultan, as well as Iskander, Davud and Zyulfikar Pasha.
Plot
Sultan Mehmed III, at an old age, began to fear that his eldest son Mahmoud would overthrow him. For this reason, he orders to kill shehzade.
Time passes and the sultan begins to think about the murder of his middle son, Ahmed. However, the young man’s mentor - Dervish Mehmed Pasha, learning about this, pours poison to the lord and he dies, and the very young Ahmed becomes the sultan.
Having no heirs, the young sultan saves the life of his younger brother Mustafa. Because of this, the mother of Mustafa (Halime) and his older sister (Dilruba Sultan) begin to weave intrigues to raise the boy to the throne.
On the other hand, his own grandmother (Safie Sultan) intrigues against Ahmed. After all, she managed at one time to save her youngest son, Iskander, from execution, and now that he has grown and matured, the old valid wants to elevate him to the throne.
Unfortunately, the mother of Ahmed I is Handan, a woman who is weak and short-sighted. She does not have enough strength and resources to deal with strong opponents. However, the Greek Anastasia gets into the harem to the young sultan. Ahmed falls in love with her and makes her a favorite. The bold Anastasia, nicknamed Kesem, quickly finds supporters and becomes not only the faithful wife of the Sultan and the mother of his children, but also saves her husband from his relatives more than once.
With the death of Ahmed I, it is Kesem who fights for the life of his sons and, despite numerous losses, elevates his son Murad to the throne.
Dilruba Sultan: the life story of the heroine in Kesem
Dilruba, according to the television series, was the middle child of the favorite of Sultan Mehmed III - Halime Sultan. After her elder brother was killed and the son of another Padishah’s wife ascended the throne, the girl began to help her mother to raise her younger brother Mustafa to the throne.
In this Dilruba Sultan (photo below) showed incredible resourcefulness. Because of her tricks, Kesem and two sons of Ahmed I almost died.
In addition, she became an indirect cause of suicide Handan Sultan. However, all this not only did not bring her brother closer to the throne, but, on the contrary, contributed to his imprisonment in the "golden cage", where he lived for many years, unable to communicate with the outside world.
When Dilruba grew up, her mother wanted to marry her daughter to the Great Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. Realizing that her fiancé is a faithful servant of Kesem (otherwise he would not have received this post), the young sultana, contrary to the opinion of her mother, chooses herself a husband. Her chosen one is Davud Pasha. He turns out to be a faithful servant of his wife and makes every effort to raise her brother to the throne.
After the death of Ahmed, Mustafa ascends the throne, and Kesem and her children are out of work. Moreover, knowing that the favorite of Ahmed enjoys great love among the people, Dilruba and her husband several times try to kill her. In revenge, Kesem takes the sultana hostage and, blackmailing Davuda Pasha, saves the children and raises his adopted son Osman to the throne.
Halime, Dilruba and Dawood do not accept defeat and wait for a chance to get even.
Taking advantage of the fact that Safiy Sultan quarrels with Kesem and Osman, the conspirators with the help of the Janissaries raise a riot and kill the new Sultan, again raising Mustafa to the throne. In addition, Dilruba Sultan orders to kill all the children of Kesem so that there are no other candidates for the throne. However, the sultana manages to save her sons and she is preparing to overthrow the crazy Mustafa from the throne.
At first, Kesem forces Halima to sign an order to execute Davud Pasha. And then she sends people who kill Dilruba and her mother, and Mustafa again falls into the "golden cage", where he lives until the end of his days.
Dilruba Sultan: biography of a woman who became her prototype
In reality, Halime Sultan and Mehmed III also had a daughter. That's just the story did not keep her name. It is only known that after the death of Sultan Ahmed I, one of the active participants in the struggle for the throne of the Ottoman Empire was the husband of the young sultana, Davud Pasha.
More information about the fate of this sultana has not reached our days. Since, in reality, her mother Halim was not killed by order of Kesem, but rather passed away her widowed age in the Old Palace. It is likely that after the execution of her husband, Dilruba lived there or remarried.
Melisa Elijah Oldjanik is a young actress who played Dilruba in the television series
During the first 20 episodes, the role of the impudent Dilruba was played by the beginning Turkish actress Melisa Elijda Oljanik.
Despite her young age (at the time of filming she was 13 years old), the girl was able to create a rather multifaceted image on the screen. Her heroine at the same time liked and annoyed viewers.
Oikyu Karael - performer of the role of an adult sultana
Starting from the 21st series and until the end of the first season, the matured Dilruba, began to play the Turkish model and actress - Oikyu Karael.
Connoisseurs of Turkish cinema know that before Kesem, Oikyu managed to star in several more projects: Dirty Money, False Love and Nausea.
Although at first many viewers were outraged that the matured Dilruba Sultan (actress Oykyu Karael) was not at all like herself young (Melisa Elijah Oljanik), later they fell in love with the game of the new performer.
Among the innovations that Oikyu brought to the image of her heroine was the irony with which Dilruba reacted to her mother’s comments. This actress simply captivated the fans, in addition, her soulful play, in romantic scenes with Dawood, also did not go unnoticed by the audience.
Entertaining facts
- It remains a mystery to historians why the name of the only daughter of Mehmed III and Halima is not known. According to one version, she was weak-willed special and served only as a pawn in the intrigues of her mother. In this connection, her name was not even mentioned in most chronicles. According to another version, Dilruba Sultan was very smart and cunning and really did a lot to harm Kesem. Therefore, having come to power, the sultana first of all ordered to erase the name of the rival from all documents. By the way, the second theory is more similar to the truth, because the court chroniclers, who carefully wrote down all the representatives of the Ottoman dynasty in the registers , could not just forget to indicate the name of the Sultan's daughter if they were not ordered to.
- The series presents how the middle child of Halime - Dilruba Sultan. History says that the second child of the favorite of Sultan Mehmed III was the son of Mustafa, and the daughter was born last.
- Oikyu Karel in her childhood was very shy of her appearance and in order to overcome the complexes, she decided to become a model, and then an actress.
- Actress Karael has a twin sister named Ezgi.
What was really and what was the name of the daughter of Halime Sultan, historians still can not say for sure. But the filmmakers have already found the answer to this question, introducing a heroine named Dilruba Sultan into the plot of the first season of “Kesem”. It is not known whether she really was like that, but the version proposed in the television series really liked the audience and many hope that in the new season Dilruba will “rise to life” in an unusual way.