Don’t miss ‘Mukti – Birth of a Nation.’ The 17-minute short film in English, which grabbed more than a million viewership ever since SonyLIV uploaded it on YouTube recently, will make you go back to it again and again. The year is 1971 and the scene the violence unleashed by West Pakistan on East Pakistan under the name Operation Searchlight. People flee to India, which is forced to intervene reeling under the influx of refugees. The U.S. backs Pakistan and calls for ceasefire under the U.N. regulation. The onus to negotiate the ceasefire rests on one man — Major General J.F.R Jacob. But Jacob has another plan…
Jacob’s ultimatum
Jacob leaves the tent of Pakistan Army Chief, A.A. K. Niazi, after placing on his table the Instrument of Surrender, which the Pakistani Chief has to sign. Niazi, expecting a discussion about the ceasefire, is taken aback! “Thirty minutes are all you have, Niazi,” is Jacob’s ultimatum, after he explains the gory repercussions Pakistan would have to face otherwise. (“And the Yanks aren’t coming, Niazi”) Pakistan gives in, and till date it remains “the only public surrender in the history of the world,” where 93,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered before the Indian Army. Bangla Desh was born. For all that, Indian troops were much less in number! And if Pakistan had refused, Jacob may have been court-martialled. Yet he went ahead! His acumen and heroism were incredible.
(J.F.R. Jacob passed away on January 13, 2016, after a trailblazing career in the Army, as Security Advisor, and serving as the Governor of Goa and Punjab.)
Manu Chobe’s ‘Mukti’ is a tribute to the decision-making skills of our army greats like Sam Manekshaw and J.F.R. Jacob. The film opens with Indira Gandhi’s daring war cry that India cannot sit back and watch such atrocities in its neighbourhood, Sheikh Mujeeb-ur-Rehman’s voice of dissent against Pakistan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s accusation of India as a “predatory aggressor.” The scene then shifts to the war camp.
Milind Soman plays the inimitable strategist and fearless soldier, Jacob, to perfection and Yashpal Sharma, who essays the role of Niazi, is a commendable foil. Another high point of ‘Mukti’ is the dialogue. Every exchange among the three characters (the third is an army officer, who has been assigned to record the ceasefire negotiation) is a gem. Hats off to the writer! In the end, when with a cheeky smile Jacob says, “Call up Sam and tell him that Jake says, it’s bloody humid in Bangla Desh,” you can’t help putting your hands together for the ‘Mukti’ team.
