director's statement

I was born in the early 80s. Roughly a decade after my country Bangladesh was born. I always feel like I grew up with my beloved nation. Being the child of a freedom fighter, I also grew up listening to stories of the liberation war. And they have always baffled me. How can somebody be so brave? How can somebody sacrifice their everything for the greater goods? From where do they get the courage? In answer to all these questions, my father would just gently say, “It was a different time”!
 

When I decided to tell the story of our liberation war in a broader scale via animation, I tried to put myself in that different time. What would I have done if I were in a war? I sort of had two answers split down in the middle. One part of me said, I’d be scared– terrified and distraught. The other part of me said, I’d be sarcastic– cynical and passive. But both parts in me screamed together and said that I’d survive. In other words, I’d try my level best to survive the war. And I think that represents the majority of the people who go through a war. They leave their homes, their earthly possessions, and travel miles after miles, just to survive another day. They witness history. They see the birth of a nation. They see the heroes overcoming extraordinary odds. They see the villains, commencing unmentionable acts of massacre. And in the mix of all the chaos and carnage, they see a silver lining of survival. And that is how the Surviving 71 storyline came to me.
 

We see the journey of two young men through a war. One Hindu, named Dhrubo– scared, fragile, but benevolent. One Muslim, named Akku– witty, snarky, but honest. The two become friends in the most unforgettable situation. They don’t have the means to fight a war. They will just try to escape the country to survive. They decide to flee to India via Jessore road. As they travel, they witness the key moments of the history of Bangladesh. Without even knowing they meet the most iconic figures that shaped an entire nation. They meet the good guys. They meet the bad guys. They get scarred, battered and bruised. They see the horror and the death. And through their eyes we see how the narrative of the birth of a nation truly unfolds.
 

For the short film portion of the production I chose to take excerpt out of Dhrubo and Akku’s life during war and focus on a life threatening experience they go through with a fellow freedom fighter named Rezaul. I tried to answer what drove them to this pivotal moment.