Kaybedenler Kulübü is based on the true story of a radio programme which aired during the mid 1990s. Kaan (Nejat İşler) and Mete (Yiğit ÖzŞener) are very close friends. Kaan owns an independent book publisher and Mete owns a bar but wants to open a vintage shop to sell old records. At night, they host their radio programme for free, receiving nothing from the radio channel but beers and chocolates. In it, they mostly talk about women, sex, and city life, and their loneliness and disappointments seep deeply into their conversations with listeners. Day by day, they become popular. In the beginning, their radio manager wants to cancel the show, because of their use of slang language, but when ratings slowly start to go up, she leaves them alone. Soon thereafter, it becomes the most listened-to radio programme in Turkey at the time.
"Kaybedenler Kulübü is full of joy, love, friendship, relationships, and drama. One minute audience members will laugh and the next they will cry."
All the characters and conversations in this movie are real. When it was released, some people said, “These conversations couldn’t have happened in a radio show.” Since then, some of the real recordings from the 1990s have been uploaded online. In 2011, when then film premiered, everyone who watched it was talking about it and listening to the soundtrack.
During the film, we hear the typical Istanbul Turkish accent, which is very straightforward and understandable. Some lines have become very popular among fans. When someone asks, “How are you?” or “What’s going on?” the answer is usually “Standart” (Standard), meaning “I’m OK, nothing new.” In one scene, a female fan calls the programme, and most of the time Kaan and Mete ask women, “Yatmış mıydık?” (Have we slept together before?). This saying has become very popular, not just between men but also between women when the conversation veers into sex.
The average conversation on the radio show is about loneliness. One night, a man calls and says, “Yalnızlıktan kusacağim” (I will throw up because of loneliness). This has become like a proverb for people who feel lonely. It’s a very strong and depressing phrase, but it also shows how Turkish emotions can be very dark. In another scene, Kaan meets a girl in a bar and asks her out on a date. She says, “Let’s meet at 6. 45 PM.” This has become an actual meeting time for friends and lovers. As for Mete, he doesn’t care about the name of girls he just met or spent little time with. He looks at them and says, “Adın neydi?” (What was your name?). This is asked by someone who doesn’t care about the person next to him or her.
Censorship is a very big problem in Turkey. If the Turkish Radio and Television Investigation committee receive complaints about a TV or radio show, they first warn the programme, and if complaints continue, they can ban it up to 30 days. That’s why the manager of the radio station warns Kaan and Mete about their speeches, but the friends never give up and keep doing the show the way they want to do. Another thing not to miss about Turkish culture is what the characters do after getting drunk: they go eat soup after leaving the bar or club.
"The movie keeps them wary all the time until the end, and no one wants to miss the beauty of the real speeches that aired on the show between foreigners who later became very close because of one reason, loneliness."
Kaybedenler Kulübü is full of joy, love, friendship, relationships, and drama. One minute audience members will laugh and the next they will cry. The movie keeps them wary all the time until the end, and no one wants to miss the beauty of the real speeches that aired on the show between foreigners who later became very close because of one reason, loneliness.
