Aşk ı Memnu (TV series)

Plot

Adnan Ziyagil lives an idyllic life on the shore of Istanbul's Bosporus strait with his two children, teenage daughter Nihal and eleven-year-old son Bülent, his nephew Behlül, and various house staff. Behlül, son of Adnan's cousin, moved in after his parents died in a car accident when he was young. Ms Deniz Decourton is the children's nanny and she has been living in the household long before the death of Adnan's wife.

Since Adnan is a wealthy widower, he attracts the attention of Firdevs Yöreoğlu, who has two daughters and has recently lost her husband. Peyker Yöreoğlu (Firdevs's eldest daughter) marries Nihat Önal. While at their wedding, Adnan and Firdevs' youngest daughter, Bihter Yöreoğlu bond over the loss of their loved ones. Adnan falls in love with the much younger and beautiful Bihter. He proposes to her and she agrees to marry him even though she knows that her mother fancies him. There is no love lost between mother and daughter as Bihter blames her mother for her father's death. Firdevs is also not a favorite of Nihat's father, the rich but cunning businessman Hilmi Önal. Hilmi dislikes Firdevs because she is greedy, cunning and self-centered.; he vows to make her life difficult.

Despite Firdevs' initial opposition, Adnan and Bihter get married. Hilmi disrupts their wedding and warns Adnan that he has made a big mistake by marrying Firdevs' daughter Bihter. Hilmi tells Adnan that Firdevs will take advantage of his family just like she took advantage of his family when Peyker married Nihat, but Adnan ignores him. Bihter begins to settle in the Ziyagil's house and tries to win the friendship of Adnan's two children.

Soon, Firdevs comes to live with the family.

Adnan offers Nihat a job in his office, to which Nihat agrees and Hilmi becomes furious. He swears to ruin Nihat's and Adnan's lives.

Nihal is not very happy with her father's decision of marrying Bihter. She wanted him to marry her French nanny Ms Deniz.

The marriage of Bihter and Adnan begins well as Bihter tries to endear herself to Adnan's children. Soon, Bihter becomes pregnant and she fears it is too soon in the marriage to welcome a child. Her mother Firdevs advices her daughter that this child will ensure Bihter's position in the Ziyagil family. Bihter explains to Adnan that his children have not accepted her yet and she wants more time before having a child. He tells her that they will talk about this issue later and that he will stand by her decision but he wants to think it over again. However, Bihter gets an abortion without Adnan's consent. They argue about it but they reconcile.

Beşir is the Ziyagil family's driver who had been living with the family since he was six years old. Adnan raised him along with Nihal. He was also Nihal's childhood friend. Beşir secretly loves Nihal and can go to any length to see a smile on the innocent Nihal's face. Nihal, on the other hand is madly in love with Behlül, but only Ms Deniz is aware of it. Cemile, the daughter of Ziyagil family's cook Süleyman and his wife Şayeste, has feelings for Beşir.

Everybody knows Behlül is a playboy. Bihter even hated him since he left Peyker. But as she lives in the Ziyagil house, Behlül falls in love with Bihter. She rejects him, but later accepts.

Behlül buys a small house on the riverside but only Bihter is aware of it. Bihter often goes there to meet Behlül. Beşir, however, discovers this and secretly captures a video of Behlül and Bihter. But he fears that if he shows this to the family, Nihal would be heartbroken. Therefore he just leaves the Ziyagil House without informing anyone.

Behlül breaks up with his girlfriend Elif Meryem and comes closer to Bihter. However, he soon realizes that he is hurting his uncle and starts avoiding Bihter. Bihter now finds it impossible to live without Behlül.

Firdevs senses change in Bihter's attitude. She uses her maid Katya to spy on her daughter and her family. Firdevs soon discovers everything about Bihter-Behlül romance. She also discovers Nihal's feelings for Behlül and tries to bring Nihal and Behlül closer to each other. Nihal soon reveals that she loves Behlül. Behlül is shocked to hear this because he only loved her as his sister. Soon Beşir finds out that he has lung cancer. The Ziyagil family somehow finds him and he tells Behlül that he knows about his and Bihter's romance and that if he doesn't marry Nihal and keep her happy, he will reveal everything to Adnan. Soon, Behlül gets engaged to Nihal and Beşir is happy to see Nihal happy. Adnan's sister Arsan takes Beşir to her home so that she can take care of him.

Heart-broken Bihter confronts Behlül. He tells Bihter that their relationship is over, and that he will marry Nihal as to rectify his mistakes. Bihter, knowing that he loves her and is marrying Nihal only out of guilt, breaks down in front of her mother. She says that she is dying and begs her mother to stop the wedding. Firdevs helped her but couldn't stop the wedding. Bihter also discovers that she is pregnant with Behlül's child, but she aborts it when she sees that Behlül is not ready to accept her.

Behlül is caught in a dilemma. He is ashamed of himself for deceiving his fatherlike uncle and in guilt he leaves Bihter, for whom he had broken off his engagement with Elif, and gets engaged with Nihal.

A day before Behlül's wedding, Bihter asks him to run away with her but he rejects her. As a last resort, on the day of wedding, Bihter confronts Behlül, pointing a gun towards herself. She asks him whether he will be able to live after losing her and he says "no" but does not have the guts to take the gun from her hand.

Adnan breaks into his bedroom and sees them together. He scornfully reminds Behlül that he treated him like his son. Bihter look to Adnan and then she kills herself. After her death, Behlül visits her grave, asking for forgiveness over his cowardice. He said he loved her and that he is her murderer, himself and of everyone else, nothing would have ended this way if he wasn't the coward that he was, and that it is his punishment that he will have to live with this guilt forever. Behlül leaves Ziyagil family. Firdevs goes into shock over her daughter's death and ends up being paralyzed. She blames herself for snatching her daughter's love from her which resulted in her death.

Adnan is on the path of recovery after Bihter-Behlül's betrayal, and moves into a new house with his children, Ms Deniz and the servants (Süleyman, Shayesta, Nesrin, and Cemile) while Nihal is on the path of recovery after Behlül's betrayal too.

Other adaptations

The series is based on a 1975 adaptation of the novel, featuring Müjde Ar as Bihter and Itır Esen as Nihal, set in the original late 19th-century context. A Spanish-language American version, "Pasión Prohibida," commenced broadcasting in 2013.

International broadcasts

Aşk-ı Memnu has broken ratings records in Turkey. The series is the top-rated series there. A major hit in Pakistan with 11.9 ratings on its last episode. It was seen by more than 90 million people in Pakistan. It was being aired again in Pakistan. It was the first foreign drama to get so much viewership and ratings in Pakistan. Aşk-ı Memnu was dubbed in many languages, including Persian, Urdu (Ishq-e mamnoo), and Arabic. Broadcasters carrying the series include.