Hicran Street (Film)

Hicran Sokağı is a Turkish drama film written, directed, and produced by Safa Önal. It was released in Türkiye on 14 December 2007. The film portrays the intertwined lives of people struggling with deprivation in one of Istanbul’s Boğaziçi neighborhoods.

The film centers on the impossible love between Arif, an honest and hardworking young man raised in an orphanage, and Leyla, the university-educated daughter of a wealthy family. Arif earns his living as a repairman of water heaters, taps, heaters, and bicycles in the neighborhood. Although he and Leyla share a deep love, her family strongly opposes their relationship. As a result, Leyla disappears, abandoning her family and surroundings.

Another significant figure in Arif’s life is Müyesser, the daughter of his landlady, who is deeply in love with him. Müyesser, a beautiful, immaculate, and affectionate young woman, represents another dimension of Arif’s emotional困境. Müyesser’s mother, the widow, cheerful, and charming Kınaçiçeği Şaziye, is a respected woman in the neighborhood.

The film presents a multi-layered narrative that goes beyond the main characters to explore the lives of the neighborhood residents, their interpersonal relationships, longings for the past, and hidden stories. Supporting characters such as the itinerant köfte vendor Laz Temel, the former singer Handan Akses, her elderly and passionate admirer Udi Şadi Bey, the restaurant owner Rıfkı, the greengrocer Adil, the lathe operator Bekir baba, the orphanage matron Zümrüt anne, and the neighborhood rogue Cafer enrich the film’s social fabric.

Meanwhile, Leyla’s father considers Arif unworthy, but years later, his chance encounter with his own youthful love, Handan Akses, triggers inner reckonings within him.

^{Hicran Sokağı Film Poster (}IMDb⁾

The film explores themes such as love, sacrifice, social class division, loyalty, neighborhood culture, and the burdens of the past.

• Türkan Şoray
• Cüneyt Arkın
• Hülya Koçyiğit
• Müjdat Gezen
• Rutkay Aziz
• Bülent Kayabaş
• Selda Alkor
• Yüksel Aksu
• Ezel Akay
• Pelin Batu
• Ahu Türkpençe