By Handan Kazanci
ISTANBUL
It would not come as a shock if one of the world’s most prolific screenwriters was found to be working for Hollywood or India’s gargantuan ‘Bollywood’ film industry.
But the truth is a bit more surprising -- and closer to home. One of the most productive film writers in the world is an award-winning veteran of Turkey’s popular ‘Yesilcam’ movie factory.
Eighty-five-year-old Turkish screenwriter and director Safa Onal has been working in the country’s movie industry for more than 60 years, even breaking a Guinness World Record in 2004 for having almost 400 scripts filmed.
"I never had such an intention or pretension [to break a Guinness record]. There is Hollywood and Bollywood. How could you compete with [them]?," Onal says, speaking to Anadolu Agency in a café at Istanbul’s teeming Beyoglu district, itself home to Turkey’s legendary Yesilcam film scene.
The veteran screenwriter has two upcoming projects: one is a TV drama series which will cast prominent actor Kadir Inanir and the other is a feature film based on a short story by famous Turkish writer and poet Sait Faik Abasiyanik.
The film will be shot on Burgazada Island, one of the Princes’ Islands in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul where Abasiyanik spent most of his life.
Onal’s first script was 1953’s Kanli Para [Bloody Money] directed by Orhan M. Ariburnu and starring famous Turkish actor Ayhan Isık.
The film was an adaptation of one of Onal’s stories and told the tale of a group of people trying to uncover treasure left from the ancient Byzantium era.
He found fame during the Yesilcam years -- a golden age for Turkish cinema between the 1950s and 1970s -- when the country’s film industry produced around 250 to 350 movies each year, ranging from comedies to dramas to thrillers.
Yesilcam was named after a street in Istanbul’s Beyoglu district where many actors, directors and crewmembers were based.
Onal was the screenwriter on cult Turkish films such as 1968’s Vesikali Yarim [My Prostitute Love], 1966’s Ah Guzel Istanbul [O Beautiful Istanbul] and 1992’s Tatar Ramazan.
All of them are considered to be classic movies as they used an authentic cinema language compared to their rivals of the time.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Turkish film critic Mehmet Acar says the main reason behind Onal’s success was "his strong literary knowledge".
"Just by looking at his films, such as Vesikali Yarim and Ah Guzel Istanbul, it is clear to see his passion for literature," Acar says.
This love for language and literature is clear. Onal -- who was friends with many of Turkey’s well-known intellectuals, writers and poets throughout his life -- recites a poem from a well-known Turkish author even while being interviewed.
"My Turkish has to be very wealthy," he says, adding: "Turkish is so important that has taken vocabulary from Arabic and Persian and added them into its grammar.
"[Turkish is] a unique language in the world," he adds.
Onal generally worked with then-unknown actors of the time, such as the ‘sultan of Turkish cinema’ Turkan Soray and one of the country’s most prominent actors, Kadir Inanir.
Many of these names became stars after taking part in Onal’s movies.
Although a number of illnesses have resulted in some walking difficulties for Onal, he remains enthusiastic about cinema.
"Around six-to-eight of my films are shown on TV every day," he says. "There are even TV channels that show only Yesilcam movies."
More than 10 years after his Guinness record, Onal believes there is nobody else in the world who achieved the same productivity as himself writing scripts.
"Today I have 420 film scripts," Onal says.
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