High Court suspends production of ‘Operation Jackpot’

Originally, 'Operation Jackpot' was an initiative run by the Bengali naval commandos during the Liberation War of 1971. Noted filmmaker Gias Uddin Selim, was initially responsible for making a film on the history of 'Operation Jackpot'. However, somewhat controversially, the film's tender was handed over to Kibria Films, without much explanation, who decided to take Delwar Jahan Jhantu as the director.

However, the High Court has now suspended all activities related to this tender, for three weeks. The judge issued a ruling that demanded an answer as to why the tender was handed over to Kibria Films. The High Court bench consisting of Justice Mahmudul Haque and Justice Md. Mahmud Hasan Talukdar gave these orders.

According to media reports, Gias Uddin Selim and Morshedul Islam complained about the irregularities in the tender process for the film, "Operation Jackpot".

The project was initially under the authority of the Ministry of Shipping, where former State Minister for Shipping, Shahjahan Khan, MP; former State Minister for Cultural Affairs, Asaduzzaman Noor, MP; former Minister for Information, Hasanul Haq Inu, MP, and Minister for Liberation War Affairs, AKM Mozammel Haque, MP, jointly handed over the project to Gias Uddin Selim.

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I have been deprived: Gias Uddin Selim

At that time, the director diligently worked on the script by visiting the venues where the operation took place and also interviewed around 80 naval commandos for the film. It took him almost two years to complete the script. 

However, a year and a half ago, the project was handed over to the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs. After that, a new tender process was initiated, where Kibria Films was selected as the production company.

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

Gias Uddin Selim's "Operation Jackpot" was initially finalised under the banner of 'Ashirbad Films'. However, the director was dropped from the project, with the reasoning being that he was involved in the evaluation committee, so he could not be handed the tender. Thus, the film would be handed over to Kibria Films, with Delwar Jahan Jhantu being selected as the director to helm the project.