Unapologetic distortion of history in Pakistani 1971 drama ‘Jo Bichar Gaye’

As Bangladesh celebrates its 50th anniversary of victory, Pakistani drama series "Jo Bichar Gaye" shamelessly presents distorted accounts of the 1971 Liberation war, by showing protesting Dhaka University students as "uncouth bullies" and Pakistani army men as "righteous gentlemen".

Directed by Haissam Hussain and scripted by Ali Moeen, the Pakistani series is an adaptation of Col ZI Farrukh's autobiographical novel of the same name. The series, which premiered on December 12 has aired two episodes till now.

The intro highlights the segments that the series plans on covering. They refer to the Agartala Conspiracy case, martial law withdrawal, 6-Point Demand, delay in National Assembly session, and student and political activities at Dhaka University.

The show centres around three protagonists: Pakistan army Captain Farrukh (played by Talha Chahour), Dhaka University student and Pakistan sympathizer Sonia (Maya Ali), and fellow DU student-activist Rumi (Wahaj Ali), who feels injustice is being done with people of East Pakistan.

The series craftily misleads the audience with Pakistani concocted narrative. The first episode shows student activists of Awami League forcing their peers to join their movement and instigating them to revolt against the Pakistani administration.

The serial goes as far as to try and taint Awami League's victory in the 1970 election with derogatory remarks.

The drama shows actor Usman Zia in the role of a Dhaka University teacher who tries to instigate and manipulate the student activists to abduct and bully non-Bengali students. This further establishes that the serial is nothing more than propaganda, trying to instill outdated narratives that even the Pakistani youths are now starting to question.

Poster of the Pakistani serial "Jo Bichar Gaye"

The most infuriating element of the series is the laughably bad and strange language that the makers try to pass off as Bangla. Usman Zia and Wahaj Ali's accents, while trying to speak supposedly Bangla words, literally sound like two people trying to pronounce words with "paan" in their mouths -- outright disrespectful to the language.

Sonia, the strong-willed and opinionated "heroine" of the series, passes information on to the Pakistani army, despite being a Bengali. She takes a stand against the "revolt", refraining from speaking Bangla as it goes against her love for Pakistan.

Opening scene from Pakistani serial "Jo Bichar Gaye"

"Jo Bichar Gaye" till now has only portrayed a distorted narrative of history that only the ignorant will believe, completely disregarding the brutalities unleashed on Bengalis by the Pakistani army.

This, however, is not the first on-screen fiction produced in Pakistan in recent times on the subject of 1971 and liberation of Bangladesh. Synopsis of "Khel Khel Mein", a Pakistani movie released this year, reads, "A story inspired by true events, unfolding 50 years of mistrust, memories, and myths."