''JK 1971'' or ''1971 et Kay'' is a 2023

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...

film directed by Fakhrul Arefeen Khan and produced by Gorai Films. It is the first English-language Bangladeshi film about the

Bangladesh liberation war The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali ...

that features

Sabyasachi Chakrabarty Sabyasachi Chakrabarty is an Indian actor of theatre, films and television. He is best known for portraying iconic Bengali detective characters, Feluda, and Kakababu. Personal life His parents, Jagadish Chandra Chakrabarty and Monica Chakrabart ...

and

Subhra Sourav Das Subhra Sourav Das is an Indian television and films actor based in Kolkata. He also worked at Kaushik Sen's theatre group Swapnasandhani.

in lead role. The film is based on PIA flight PK712 hijacking.

Premise

On 3 December 1971, Jean Eugene Paul Kay, a French citizen, hijacked a

Boeing 720 The Boeing 720 is an American narrow-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Announced in July 1957 as a 707 derivative for shorter flights from shorter runways, the 720 first flew on November 23, 1959. Its type certificate was i ...

owned by

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly ...

. He demanded that the

government of France The Government of France (French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...

have to send 20 tons of relief and medicines to the camps of

East Bengali refugees East Bengali Refugees are people who left East Bengal following the Partition of Bengal, which was part of the Independence of India and Pakistan in 1947. An overwhelming majority of these refugees and immigrants were Bengali Hindus.US State D ...

in India and people of

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

in the support of the

Cast

Subhra Sourav Das Subhra Sourav Das is an Indian television and films actor based in Kolkata. He also worked at Kaushik Sen's theatre group Swapnasandhani.

as Jean Eugene Paul Kay *

as pilot * Daria Gavrushenko as Konal * Indrajit Majumdar as interpreter * Avishek Singh as first pilot * Francisco Raymond * Nikolai Novominaski

Production

Fakhrul Arefeen Khan, director of the film, announced its production on 9 March 2021. His purpose to produce to the film was to honor the Mujib Year. It was also announced that

would be in the film, it was his second film with Fakhrul. The director said that the production of ''JK 1971'' would start from April, 2021 in

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

. On 18 September 2021, its filming started with 36 actors. Its post-production ended on 23 April 2022.

Release

Fakhrul wanted to release the film on 3 December 2021 after its production. It was screened in

Mumbai International Film Festival The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It ...

and

International Istanbul Film Festival The Istanbul Film Festival ( tr, İstanbul Film Festivali) is the first and oldest international film festival in Turkey, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. It is held every year in April in movie theaters in Istanbul, T ...

in August 2022 and

Kolkata International Film Festival The Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) is an annual film festival held in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1995, it is the third oldest international film festival in India. The festival is organized by the West Bengal Film Centre under the W ...

in December 2022. On 10 January 2023, the film got green signal from the

Bangladesh Film Censor Board Bangladesh Film Censor Board is a regulatory agency that is responsible for the censorship of movies and is located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. History The censor board was set up in 1977 following the framing of Bangladesh Censorship of Film Rules. ...

to release in Bangladesh. It became the opening film of 2023

Dhaka International Film Festival Dhaka International Film Festival ( bn, ঢাকা আন্তর্জাতিক চলচ্চিত্র উৎসব) is a biennial film festival held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1992, the festival was initially organized on a ...

. It was theatrically released in Bangladesh on 3 March 2023. It was released in the country on 7 cinemas.

Controversy

After the films' release, Amit Mollick alleged that the basic storyline of the film was lifted from a film script he had emailed to the director in 2017. However, the director denied the allegation and said that he is ready to face the case if Amit files a case of plagiarism against him.

Reception

Film critic Ahsan Kabir of

Bangla Tribune Bangla Tribune is a Bengali language news website of Bangladesh. It started its journey on 13 May 2014. It's edited by Zulfiqer Russell and published by Kazi Anis Ahmed. As of July 2021, its Alexa ranking was #16 in Bangladesh and #3,064 global ...

praised the performance of lead actors of the film.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{facebook, 1971ETKAY 2023 action films 2023 films 2020s French-language films English-language Bangladeshi films Urdu-language Bangladeshi films Bangladeshi historical drama films Films shot in Kolkata Films set in Paris Films set in 1971 Films involved in plagiarism controversies Film controversies in Bangladesh Films about aircraft hijackings Films based on the Bangladesh Liberation War