Joyjatra likely to be released this Eid

Humayun Faridee and Tareq Anam play powerful roles in Joyjatra

Joyjatra stands apart from other films because it the first movie of the country where the Dolby digital sound system and cinema scope camera have been used. The man behind the movie, Tauquir, is very hopeful about his work and said, 'Viewers will greatly enjoy seeing the film on a big screen, i.e. in the movie theatres.' Tauquir added, 'My aim is to use state-of-the-art technology. We can claim the credit of being the first after liberation to shoot in cinema scope camera. Soon, more such films will be made and the government is thinking of buying a cinema scope camera for the Film Development Corporation (FDC). The technology is not available here so I had to go to Chennai for editing.'

Here Tauquir shares his views on some issues on his mind:

Experiences in the course of filming Joyjatra
I have a few keywords to describe my experiences with Joyjatra: hectic, nerve racking, thrilling. The boat shooting is one of the toughest shooting experiences in the world since the film is based on a journey. One-third of the film was on boat. In the remainder two-thirds of the film the focus was on a village.

Teamwork while shooting.
Interestingly, most of the artistes are stars. Starting from Abul Hayat, Hamayun Faridee, Tarik Anam till Rumana and Shahed. All of them are good actors. Many of them are senior to me-- like my teachers. Often the stars, who were in one boat, needed delicate handling.

Storyline
You will initially see a blissful village. But soon the villagers are attacked by the military troops and have to flee. The time is April 1971, the beginning of our struggle for liberation. The film is based on Amjad Hossain's novel Obelay Osomoy. I liked the novel a great deal and took the liberty of making the book into a movie. It's the story of humanity and survival and not on Liberation War only. Our message is that every living being has the right to life. The film also depicts the communal harmony amongst the Hindus, Muslims and Christians in our country for thousands of years.

How Joyjatra stands apart from other films on the Liberation War
The movie is different from other war movies because it is authentic. The army costumes, vehicles and arms are original and appropriate. We have used the FT6 jet fighter planes and have picturised some bombing sequences with explosives minus splints. The antiquated vehicles were not in good condition. Every time we started to shoot, the jeep would be knocked down and we had to repair it. At first the printers shied away from printing the old Pakistani currencies for us. However, we eventually succeeded in convincing them that we were a bona fide film crew.

Whether filmgoers want to see yet another film on the Liberation War
There is great demand for good films on the theme. The Liberation War movies are not over done. There are very few successful movies on the subject, such as Ora Egaro Jon and Abar Tora Manush Ho which were made long ago. But in last 30 years successful movies on the war are few and far between. In recent years Aguner Parashmani, by Humayun Ahmed, has attracted a sizeable audience.

The film: whether it is a creative or entertaining movie
It is totally entertaining. There are elements such as humour, tension, suspense and thrills. It is a different kind of entertainment movie but definitely not like the conventional type with songs and dances.