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| Professor Niyazi Gül (Ata Demirer) with his assistant Hediye (Şebnem Bozoklu) |
CULTURE / FILM
By İpek Özerim
This new Turkish comedy centres on the life of
veterinary surgeon Professor Niyazi Gül (Ata Demirer), a quiet and serious fellow.
A lecturer at a university veterinary department, Gül devotes his spare time to
researching for an elixir for animals. His mission was set by his grandfather,
who died before he could tell young Niyazi the final ingredient.
Niyazi is aided by his
cleaner-cum-research assistant Hediye (Şebnem Bozoklu), a colourful character
who has no qualms about putting her boss in his place. Together, they offer up
a whole manner of eccentricities: Hediye teaches the parrot to sing arabesque,
while Niyazi tests various household vegetables hoping one of them will be the
vital ingredient that his magic potion is missing.
The mad professor seems
oblivious to Hediye’s growing crush on him, and any chance for romance seems
curtailed when two crazy old lovers, Sultan (Demet Akbağ) and Rıza (Levent
Ülgen), tumble into Professor Gül’s world, each desperate to utilise his
expertise to win a horse racing bet.
There is more than a nod to
classic Yeşilçam comedies here, and the laughs come in thick and fast throughout
this action-packed comedy adventure. For British Turks, there’s the added
hilarity of English words randomly used for heightened effect during the banter
between Sultan and her man-servant Süleyman (Kevork Malikyan, who’s appeared in
British TV sitcoms like Mind Your
Language).
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| Levent Ülgen plays a Turkish mafia-baba that's head-over-heels in love with Sultan |
The film is bound together
brilliantly by Akbağ, who is simply sensational every time she hits the screen.
Her flamboyant style is the perfect foil for Demirer’s deadpan character and
her on-screen stereotypical Turkish gangster lover Rıza, played by Ülgen. Bozoklu
holds her own as Hediye. In its quest for laughs the
film does lose the plot, literally, in the final 20 minutes with an absurd
twist that descends into total farce.
Still, having gone in at
number one in the Turkish Box Office, BKM won’t be remotely worried the film
hasn’t won over the movie pundits. As Demirer and Akbağ chalk up another huge comedy
hit, the bets are on that this is the first of a new film series for them.
Niyazi Gül, The Galloping Vet goes on general release in select cinemas across London
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