When Manoj Bajpayee starrer 1971 released in theatres back in 2007, not many people watched it. In fact, not many even got to know about the release of the film based on the life of 54 prisoners of war (POWs) but years later, in 2020, when the lockdown had just begun, 1971 became a viral hit on social media. This was one of those films that started gaining views on YouTube just by word of mouth as there wasn’t any OTT platform backing it or any PR machinery promoting it. Yet, 13 years later, the film found its audience, and continues to do so even now. Director Amrit Sagar, who had confidence in his film even when it released, recalled in a chat with indianexpress.com, “We all worked really hard on that film. We gave our life to that film and it was really disappointing and heartbreaking when it didn’t do well.”
Amrit said that even back in the day, he knew that this was a good film but felt it was unfortunate that it did not get the kind of release it deserved. He even recalled that some theatres did not have the film’s hoarding outside on the day of the release and when he actually stepped into a theatre to watch the film with the audience, he found that there was only one person in attendance.
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Speaking about how he put the film together, Amrit shared that he had initially offered another film to Manoj but when the two started talking, Amrit shared the idea of 1971. “Manoj said one thing at that time, ‘picture choti ya badi nahi hoti, achi ya buri hoti hai (a film isn’t big or small, it’s good or bad),” he recalled. As Amrit, along with writer Piyush Mishra, started talking to the families of 54 POWs, they knew what the film was supposed to look like.
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But getting the finances together was another struggle. Amrit shared that when Sagar Arts, his family’s film studio, heard the narration of the film, they didn’t have much confidence in it but his grandfather Ramanand Sagar backed him up. “One person in the studio was 100 per cent confident after hearing it and that person was Ramanand Sagar,” he recalled and shared that when they ran out of funds, it was actually the veteran filmmaker who “stepped in and gave his personal funds to us to complete this film.” Amrit spoke about the budget of the film and said, “Our budget to make the film was Rs 1.85 crore, out of that Rs 40 lakh was Manoj Bajpayee’s fee.”
But despite the film’s fate at the box office, it did manage to with a National Film Award at the 55th National Film Awards for Best Feature Film in Hindi. “When the National Award happened, it was a boost. I wasn’t extremely ecstatic or anything,” said Sagar as he shared that the theatrical success would have surely meant much more.
1971 starred Manoj Bajpayee, Ravi Kishan, Kumud Mishra, Manav Kaul among others.
1971 is shared on many YouTube channels and across all of them, the film has over 8 million views. There are many scene compilation videos too, which are also seen by many fans but Amrit shared that he is yet to meet a fan of the film in person. “For some reason, I have never met people who have seen my film,” he said with a laugh as he acknowledged that he can see the views on YouTube spiking and has also seen many of the warm and wonderful comments but he is yet to receive that praise in person.
It has now been 17 years since 1971 but if Amrit even wishes to revisit this world, he has an idea for it. “I have written 1971 Part 1. How these guys got caught, I have written the whole film. How they became POWs,” he shared. But until then, 1971 continues to attract new viewers just as organically as it did in 2020.
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