Turkish television series Ertuğrul has been a huge success in Pakistan. Its not a stretch to say that Pakistanis love the plot and admire the cast and characters a lot. So much, that they expect them to live like their on-screen personas in real life.
However, what they seem to forget is that there is a line between fiction and reality. They are humans and just like us, they are living in 2020. They are not the actual heroic figures from the 13th century.
This sort of obsession towards a character has resulted in some very problematic and patronizing behavior from certain fans. Some Pakistani fans of the drama are trolling the cast of Ertuğrul ‘for not living like their characters in real life.’
Here’s What Happened
It started off with some men and even women taking upon themselves to police Esra Bilgiç, the female lead of the show who plays Halime Sultan. According to these types of fans, Esra is not living her life as a ‘true Muslim’ and is dressing ‘inappropriately’.
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Things didn’t end there. Some people also dug through old photographs of the male lead – Engin Altan Düzyatan aka Ertuğrul and criticized him for taking a picture with… a dog.
Ahsan Khan says enough is enough
Pakistani actor Ahsan Khan had enough of it. He schooled these Pakistani fans for trolling them just because they are living their lives. He came to the Etrugrul cast’s defense and wrote,
“I know people in #Pakistan think it’s ok to troll actors here and judge them, atleast spare the cast of #Ertugral it’s bloody shameful what’s going on! Who the hell are we to do this to them?“
I know people in #Pakistan think it's ok to troll actors here and judge them, atleast spare the cast of #Ertugral it's bloody shameful what's going on! Who the hell are we to do this to them?
— Ahsan Khan (@Ahsankhanuk) May 11, 2020
Someone had to bring these trolls to their right minds and we are glad Ahsan Khan did it. Let’s hope they stop taking their obsession too far that it becomes too embarrassing for an actor to address this.
This sort of patronizing and arrogant attitude where some Pakistanis forget that Turkish folks have their own culture and lifestyle, is embarrassing to say the least. Will they ever think of visiting Pakistan if this is the kind of trolling they get? What do you think?
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