Shtisel is back, but not as we know it

Shtisel, the Israeli series about a Charedi family in Jerusalem is getting a Turkish makeover. A new show titled “Ömer” is in production and by all accounts it is inspired by the show created by Ori Elon and Yehonatan Indursky.

In the trailer for the Turkish series,protagonist Ömer, played by Selahattin Paşali, is standing by a mosque, seemingly stuck between the calls of an imam on one side and a woman — with uncovered hair — on the other.

In Islam, women are required to cover their hair in public, so the scene suggests that the main theme of the show will involve Ömer choosing between religious tradition and secularism. This was one of the central themes in Shtisel for Akiva(Michael Aloni ) who had to choose between the Orthodox beliefs of his family, his dream of being an artist and his love for a widow.

Produced for the Yes platform by Abot Hameiri Barkai, Shtisel was picked up by Netflix in 2018 by Netflix and attracted a global audience.  Recognised in every country they visited, the Israeli actors noticed that the show was particularly popular with Muslims.

“I was in a cafe in Paris when two Muslim women from Lebanon  recognised me,” said Dov Glickman who played Shulem Shtisel. “Maybe they recognized my voice, I don’t know, but they said  Shtisel was very popular in Lebanon. People identified with it, because there are many similarities.”

How close the Turkish series will be to the original story has yet to be revealed, but Omer is being compared to Akiva in  and an imam character is being likened to patriarch, Shulem.

The Turkish series’ female lead, Gökçe Bahadir, may be recognized by some Jewish and Israeli audiences as she starred in the hit Turkish Netflix series The Club (Kulüp), which follows a Sephardic-Jewish family through the political turmoil of 1940s and 1950s Istanbul.

Turkish shows, which are often referred to by the Turkish term, “dizis,” have long been as popular in Israel as they are elsewhere in the Middle East. One show, The Bride of Istanbul (Istanbullu Gelin) which was produced by the same production company as Ömer had a huge Israeli fanbase in 2018, according to Haaretz.

Another remake of Shitsel is reportedly happening in America, which has long been the rumour, but this time acclaimed filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan, co-writer of Gangs of New York is attached as director.

The American version has been described as a “modern-day Romeo and Juliet story about an ultra-progressive, over-achieving secular 18-year-old young woman on the verge of personal freedom, and the strictly observant Orthodox young man to whom she is powerfully drawn – so powerfully that she is willing to uproot her entire life to be with him.”

On paper this sounds nothing like Shtisel as the love stories in the Israeli series never crossed over into the secular world. Instead, the show followed the Charedi family as they navigated family, career and love within their community. The CBS adaptation may be good, but it is  attaching itself to the success of Shtisel to attract an audience that should not expect a US version of their beloved show.