Turkish actor Cengiz Coşkun, who plays Turgut Alp, in the superhit Turkish historical series Diriliş: Ertuğrul, has revealed that he got to know of the show’s popularity in Pakistan after he started receiving marriage proposals from the country on Instagram.
In a candid conversation with Waseem Badami and Shahid Afridi, Coşkun said that has been receiving several marriage proposals from Pakistan and joked “I cannot marry everyone”. However, during the course of the interview, Coşkun also revealed that he was unmarried, but committed.
Coşkun also expressed his desire to visit the country and said that he wants to try the biryani here. When the Lahore vs Karachi biryani debate started, Coşkun said he will come and judge which one is better to which Afridi replied that he will host Coşkun whenever he comes to the country.
In the interview, the actor also said that he wants to learn cricket from Afridi and that he would love to work in the Pakistan film industry if he finds an “interesting character” to play. He also thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan for recommending the series to Pakistan because the response he received from Pakistanis was phenomenal.
To express his love for his Pakistani fans, Coşkun towards the end of the interview, also sang ‘Dil Dil Pakistan‘.
Set in 13th century Anatolia and based on the struggle of Ertuğrul Gazi, father of Osman I – the founder of the Ottoman dynasty, Diriliş: Ertuğrul has been trending in Pakistan ever since its first episode aired on PTV Home. Pakistanis are loving the drama series and it has become a sensation in the country. According to details, more than 58 million people viewed the first episode on PTV’s YouTube channel in two months, and the entire show has had more than 250 million views. PTV’s YouTube channel has also registered an exponential rise in its viewership with more than 7 million subscribers and episodes trending every day on the social media platform.
Coşkun plays Turgut Alp in the series, who was one of the early warriors of the Ottoman Empire. He was also a close friend of Ertuğrul Gazi and his son Osman Gazi.
In an exclusive interview with The Current, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Faisal Javed Khan revealed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had gifted the drama series to Pakistan as a goodwill gesture.
