Adnan responds to plagiarism allegations

Director Adnan Al Rajeev’s Bikal Belar Pakhi created quite a buzz after the drama aired during this Eid-ul-Fitr. Starring Fazlur Rahman Babu, Elora Gohar, Allen Shubhro, Iffat Trisha, Safa Nomoni in leading roles, the drama depicted the struggles of a middle class family and received much appreciation for its story, acting and production. But the praises for Rajeev were interrupted by allegation of plagiarism against Bikal Belar Pakhi. Audio visual director Ashraful Alam Ripon posted on Facebook claiming that the story in Bikal Belar Pakhi was lifted from a drama titled Nagorik written by playwright Ziaur Rahman Zia. Broadcast two years ago on Maasranga Television, Nagorik’s screenplay allegedly bears more than a passing resemblance with the hit Eid drama Bikal Belar Pakhi. Posted on July 10 on Facebook, Ripon’s post provides details about where plot points are similar or identical between Nagorik and Bikal Belar Pakhi. In both stories the protagonists work for an insurance company. Ripon also pointed out the similarities in dialogues. Rajeev dismissed the allegation saying that he has enough original ideas and does not need to take one from another writer. “The storyline in Bikal Belar Pakhi is not the same (as Nagorik),” Rajeev told Showtime. “He (Zia) wrote about a deal by an insurance company employee, whereas I have focused on the father-son relationship,” he continued. Addressing a money stealing incident present in both stories, the young director said in apparent frustration: “Come on! It is a very common situation. How come someone say this is plagiarised? He also says that Bikal Belar Pakhi is all about finanacial hardship. Every middle class family has the same problem!“ Saying that he does not normally engage in debates like this, Adnan Al Rajeev was compelled to respond this time after the story appeared on a national daily. “I actually took the story from a personal experience,” Rajeev told Showtime. Vashkar Abedin, the head of Business Development at Ddhoni Chitra Limited commented on the issue in a Facebook post saying that Bikal Belar Pakhi is not similar to Nagorik at all. However, Nagorik’s story, Vashkar Abedin’s post claimed, is identical to Hollywood film The Pursuit of Happyness.