Ora Egaro Jon

Ora Egaro Jon
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chashi Nazrul Islam
Written by	Al Masood
Screenplay by	Kazi Aziz Ahmed
Produced by	Masud Parvez
Starring	Kamrul Alam Khasru Abdur Razzak Afroza Sultana Shabana Farhana Amin Nuton Sumita Devi Rawshan Jamil Khalil Ullah Khan ATM Shamsuzzaman
Cinematography	Abdus Samad
Edited by	Bashir Hossain
Music by	Khandaker Nurul Alam
Production companies	Parvez Films Star Film Corporation Ltd.
Distributed by	Star Film Distributors
Release date	11 August 1972 (1972-08-11) (Dhaka)
Running time	117 minutes
Country	Bangladesh
Language	Bengali
Budget	৳500 k (US$68,493)[1]
Box office	৳4 million (US$547,945)[2]

Ora Egaro Jon (Bengali: ওরা ১১ জন) is a 1972 Bengali historical drama film written by Al Masood and directed by Chashi Nazrul Islam, based on the Bangladesh Liberation War. Director Islam and lead actor Kamrul Alam Khan Khasru were both members of Mukti Bahini (liberation army).^[3]

After Bangladesh won their independence, this was the first film about Bangladesh Liberation War.^[4]

Khosru (Khosru) and his sister Mita (Shabana) study at their maternal home in Dhaka. Khosru's marriage with neighbor Sheela (Nuton) is fixed. On the other hand, Sheela's engineer brother Parvez (Razzak) is friends with Mita, a medical college student. Everything goes on normally but suddenly the war begins.

Khosru joins the war and forms a guerilla force with ten more companions. The force is led by Khosru. Parvez was captured by the Pakistan army for helping the freedom fighters. Pak forces killed Parvez's mother and younger brother in front of him as he could not find out the news of the freedom fighters. His sister Sheela was tortured and died later. Mita joined the medical team there to serve the wounded freedom fighters in Bikrampur. One day she was also tortured by Pakistani soldiers. The war ended with the surrender of the enemy and the victory of the freedom fighters.

After the war, many returned home. For some, family members look out for them but they never came back. Some come back but couldn’t find their families.

The film 'Ora Egaro Jon' was directed by Chashi Nazrul Islam and produced by freedom fighter and then Chhatra League leader Md. Masood Parvez,^[5] popularly known as Sohel Rana. He was a student of Dhaka University during Bangladesh Liberation War. After the war, Masud Parvez planned to make a film on the liberation war after returning to the university. The plan to make the film was taken on December 19, 1971. Famous freedom fighter Kamrul Alam Khan Khosru played the lead role in the film. He was the guerrilla commander of Dhaka region during the liberation war.

All those who acted in this film as freedom fighters were members of Mukti Bahini including Khusru with 10 other freedom fighters who had returned from the war, a few days before the shooting of the film.

This was Chashi Nazrul Islam's first film as a director. Before that he was working as an assistant director. Mustafizul Hoque, one of the famous director at that time wanted to make the film at that time without remuneration.^[6] But after hearing that Chashi Nazrul Islam was also joining the project, Mustafiz said, “He has been working for a long time. He can do it."^[7] The producer of the film Masud Parvez was funded by many of his friends, relatives and well known personnel. His mother Delwara Begum gave a part of his pension money to his son. The producer also took ৳10,000 (US$1,369) given by his sister Ferdous Ara Begum. After the shooting of some scenes, a five-year contract of ৳450,000 (US$61,643) was signed with the Star Film Distributor. The signing money was ৳10,000 (US$1,369).^[8][9] It is said that the investment money of the movie came from the advance money from the owners before the release.

The weapons and ammunition used in the liberation war were also used in the shooting of the movie. Sohel Rana went to Air Vice Marshal AK Khandkar along with his close friend Noore Alam Siddiqui. After hearing that arms and ammunition would be needed to make the movie, he told the then Major Shaukat. A major was attached to the shooting team to look after the Pakistan Army and Bangladesh Army uniforms. With the help of Major Ziaur Rahman, one of the sector commanders of the liberation war, the battle scenes were shot with the weapons and logistics left behind by the Pakistan Army.^[10] Arms and ammunition were supplied from Gazipur Cantonment for use in the film. Basically this initiative was taken to make the battle scenes more realistic. Army personnel from Gazipur cantonment also acted in the film.

Joydebpur village and BFDC garden; much of Ora Egaro Jon was shot in these locations.

The use of real weapons also entails considerable risk in film shooting. Even cameraman Abdus Samad refused to capture some of the scene.

The film had a scene where Razakar was killed. For the sake of the scene, some Razakars detained in Iqbal Hall were caught and taken to the shooting. Sohel Rana said, the Razakars were asked to play death by shooting in water. Another scene also featured real Pakistani soldiers.^[11]

Another scene was to kill a captured Pakistani soldier. Two Pakistani soldiers, who were trapped during the liberation war were then imprisoned near the film's unit. They have not yet been handed over to the Bangladesh government. The scene is acted out with these two soldiers. They were then handed over to the cantonment authorities.

The film also featured some parts of the historic 7th march speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The film was shot for 190 days starting from February 3, 1972 at various locations including Joydebpur, Gazipur Cantonment and Bangladesh Film Development Organization.

Although the movie was planned to be made only with freedom fighters, but Iftekharul Alam Kislu of the Star Film, suggested adding familiar faces alongside the freedom fighters. So the stars of that time were offered to act. To whom it was said, all agreed unanimously, even without remuneration. later stars like Abdur Razzak, Shabana were added to the cast for the film.^[12] Beside Kamrul Alam Khan Khasru, the other 10 freedom fighters who acted in the film are Manju, Aleen, Helal, Abu, Ata, Nantu, Baby, Murad, Altaf and Feroze. Apart from Razzak and Shabana, Actress Nuton, Rawshan Jamil, Mirana Zaman, Sumita Debi, Actor Mehfuz, Syed Hasan Imam, Khalil Ullah Khan, Raj and others starred this film. ATM Shamsuzzaman played the role of Razakar in the film.

The music of the film is directed by renowned composer Khondaker Nurul Alam.

The film was released on 11 August 1972 in Dhaka.^{[citation needed]}

Reviews were broadly positive nationwide. The film was discussed or reviewed by many critics and film makers and media. Notable among them is an edited book by Anupam Hayat, an article written by Chinmoy Mutsuddi and a research paper by Dr. Kaveri Gayen.^[13]

Everyone mentioned this film as a documentary film of the liberation war in their writings. Also, the panelists have given importance to innovation, technical skills and positive representation of women in the editing of the movie.^[14]

Ahmad Zaman Chowdhury said,

Some of the camera work in this black-and-white film was extraordinary. Soldiers running in rows. Scenes of the brutal killing of blindfolded, naked women were artistic. The use of metaphors and montages have played a significant role in establishing the film as a war film. In some cases, the influence of Sergei Eisenstein's war movie 'Battleship Potemkin' is seen in the film's editing and cinematography.^[15]

Evaluating the film as an important film in the history of Cinema of Bangladesh, film analysts and producer Matin Rahman said,

"The director of the movie, the producer, the cameraman and most of the artisans made the movie with the experience of the liberation war. They did not erase the horrors of the Liberation war, they were transformed into scenes planning."^[16]

The film was also praised by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who formed a non-cooperation movement against the ruling party of Pakistan in the pre-Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. After the release of the film, producer Masud Parvez went to his Dhanmondi residence to know about his opinion on the film. Mujib hugged him and said,

"Well done, go ahead."^[17]

In the discussion of film critic Chinmoy Mutsuddi, he said,

"Those who played the role of 11 freedom fighters in this film are all freedom fighters but none of them are actors. So while the acting in other scenes is not that great, the battle scenes are realistic enough.”^[18]

In fact, this was one of the strengths and weaknesses of this film The actors of the film are all freedom fighters. So their actions and shots on the battlefield were every bit believable and realistic. But the lack of emotion and expression in proportion to the weakness and necessity of their dialogue as actors is quite noticeable.^[19] Also, the story slows down a bit in the middle of this almost two-hour film. In some cases, the director has added extra time, which otherwise would not have harmed the film. There was no climax throughout the whole movie. The director must be said to have failed somewhat in creating the necessary excitement in directing the flow of events. But there was enough opportunity to create this tension or climax in the story.^[20]

However, even 50 years after its release, the film is considered as a masterpiece.^[21]It has been selected for preservation by the Bangladesh Film Archive.^[22]

The film was a commercial success. It is known that within a week of the release, the production cost of the film had recovered.^[23] The opening of the film grossed around ৳4 million (US$547,945). In return, a check of ৳1 lakh (US$13,698) was sent to Chashi Nazrul Islam from Star Film. Being dishonored, Chashi Nazrul politely returned the check.^[24]

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