I am ready to battle in court: Fakhrul Arefeen Khan on accusations of plagiarism
Fakhrul Arefeen Khan's Liberation War-based film, "JK 1971," was released in theaters on March 3. The film follows a historical incident that occurred in France during Bangladesh's Liberation War. It depicts the outstanding heroism of French citizen, Jean Kay.
Just eight days after the release, National Film Award-winning director Fakhrul Arefeen Khan was accused of stealing the story by filmmaker and musician, Amit Mallick.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Amit Mallick posted a status on his Facebook profile yesterday, claiming that he was the first to write the screenplay about this historical event, for his own film. His screenplay was named, "Poshchim Theke Purbo".
He also shared an image of his screenplay, a copyright certificate, and an email sent to Fakhrul Arefeen Khan with the status.
"From 2015 to 2017, we have worked hard on this screenplay. I don't want to humiliate anyone. I went to his (Fakhrul Arefeen) office to discuss the technical parts of the screenplay, as he is much more knowledgeable than us. After five years, I see that the film, based on the same incident that I had written about, was released on March 3," read the post.
"Why should I have to lose my film, the idea for which I came up with, after working so hard?" he added.
After looking at the picture posted by Mallick, it can be seen that he copyrighted the script of his story in 2018. The screenplay was sent by email to Fakhrul Arefeen Khan on December 30, 2017.
When The Daily Star reached out to Fakhrul Arefeen Khan for a comment, he said, "I met Amit through my father's friend, in 2017. He didn't come to talk with me about any technical parts, rather, he wanted to learn how he could get government funding for the film. Then, I told him to send the script to me. However, I didn't read it afterwards nor did he contact me later. We announced 'JK 1971' publicly on October 18, 2020. We announced the casting, crew, and name of our scriptwriter publicly. We didn't do anything secretly. If he thinks I stole his screenplay, why didn't he speak up then?
Fakhrul Arefeen Khan also stated that as the historical incident of Jean Kay first came to light after a report by Prothom Alo in 2015, it inspired many filmmakers.
"If he was that invested in that story, why didn't he make a film after he wrote the script? We have seen many films about Mahatma Gandhi. It's natural to make films on the same topic if the incident is historical," opined Fakhrul.
Fakhrul also challenged Amit Mallick to watch the film and find similarities between their screenplays.
"If he feels that we (Fakhrul Arefeen Khan and Masum Reza) stole his script, he can take legal action. I am ready to fight the battle in court," said the director.
Jean Kay hijacked a Pakistan International Airlines flight at the Orly Airport in Paris, on December 3, 1971. Having hijacked the plane, Kay ordered 20 tons of medical supplies and relief items to be loaded onto the plane, so that he could fly to Bangladesh and help the freedom fighters.
"JK 1971" casts US actor, Francisco Raymond and Russian artistes Derya Guvrosenko and Nikolai Novominski, alongside Subhra Sourav Das and Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, in pivotal roles.
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