This is an insult to us: Initial committee on ‘Operation Jackpot’

"Operation Jackpot", the film with the budget of BDT 23,23,35,000, was initially finalised under the banner of Ashirbad Films. Primarily, it was supposed to be directed by National Film Award winning filmmaker, Gias Uddin Selim. However, the film's tender was handed over to Kibria Films, with the project now set to be directed by Delwar Jahan Jhantu.

This decision was taken by the newly appointed secretary of the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, which resulted in controversy in the cultural arena. Three eminent cultural personalities—National Film Awardees Nasir Uddin Yusuff, Morshedul Islam and Junaid Halim— were initially the members of the script evaluation committee. The committee helped revising and improving the script of the project, which was researched and wrote by Selim for long six years.

After publishing Gias Uddin Selim's interview in this regard, The Daily Star caught up with two of the members of the script evaluation committee, where they expressed their grief about this sudden and unannounced decision.

Professor Junaid Halim found it extremely disrespectful when he heard about Selim being dropped from "Operation Jackpot". "We invested a lot of time for this project, and now, all these went in vain," shared the three-time National Film Award winning film editor. "This clericalism in the name of government's purchase procedure is absolutely ridiculous." He also stressed on the fact that introducing tender system to this kind of creative and intellectual work is insulting.

"This is not any project of infrastructure," he said. He also thinks that some sort of corruption or underhand dealings has been done in the name of this 'purchase' process, which is utterly unacceptable. "Who gave them the right to insult the respected personality like Nasir Uddin Yusuff, Morshedul Islam, Junaid Halim and Gias Uddin Selim—who are recognised from the government itself, with having honoured by the National Film Award for several times?"

"The directors who have been handed over the project, these people who have ruined the film industry, and destroyed the psychology of common masses are going to make such a substantial project?"—asks Junaid Halim. He also expressed his doubts about Delwar Jahan Jhantu, whether he can execute such a large production.

"Now showing it as a tender process is all about paper transparency, rather it is idiocy and above all, audacity," shared Junaid Halim, the professor of Film and Television Studies at Jagannath University.

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I have been deprived: Gias Uddin Selim

Noted filmmaker Morshedul Islam spoke to The Daily Star over WhatsApp, and expressed his rage. "I want to ask the new secretary Khaja Miah, have they consulted us before jumping to this decision? Or did they form any new committee to evaluate the new script submitted by the Kibria Films? If yes, who are they?" He added that the ministry itself called them and formed the committee to evaluate the script of "Operation Jackpot". "If we were removed from the committee, they should have informed us with providing proper reasoning," he asserted.

Secretary of the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, Khaja Miah told several media that Selim's script was not officially selected from the ministry. He also insinuated that the first committee made the decision themselves, and it had no supervision from the ministry. Moreover, Gias Uddin Selim was also included in the committee. Upon being asked if there was any instruction provided that members cannot submit their project? —He shared with the media, that there was no such instruction given while forming a committee.

Later, we spoke to Gias Uddin Selim to clarify the matter. "Since my script was already complete, they included me in the committee as well, to ensure everything was being supervised neutrally." The "Gunin" director also informed The Daily Star that the script was approved by that committee as well.

Nasir Uddin Yusuff told several several media outlets that they were uninformed about a new script being selected by the ministry.

Delwar Jahan Jhantu also warned the members of the script evaluation committee not to try to defame him, both in his social media handles and news portals. He also challenged them to compete with him.