The Legend of Maula Jatt is a 2022 Pakistani Punjabi-language action drama film directed and written by Bilal Lashari. The film is an adaptation of the 1979 cult classic film Maula Jatt but it is considered neither a remake nor a sequel by the producers. Produced by Ammara Hikmat and Asad Jamil Khan under the production banner of Lashari Films and Encyclomedia.It is based on the characters and stories by Nasir Adeeb. The film stars Fawad Khan as the titular character with Hamza Ali Abbasi, Humaima Malik and Mahira Khan.In the film, a local folk hero named Maula Jatt takes on his archnemesis and the leader of a brutal clan, Noori Natt.
Development of a Maula Jatt remake was announced in December 2013 by director Bilal Lashari who completed a script treatment for the film a year later. Asad Jamil Khan and Ammara Hikmat came on board as producers in November 2016, with Hamza Ali Abbasi and Fawad Khan signing on as lead actors. Principal photography began in January 2017 and concluded in June 2019. The film was initially scheduled for theatrical release during multiple dates in 2019–2020, but kept getting delayed due to the copyright related issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. The film has been described as the most expensive film of Pakistan to date. The film music score is composed by Sarmad Ghafoor.
The Legend of Maula Jatt premiered at Cue Cinemas in Lahore on October 12, 2022 and was theatrically released by Mandviwalla Entertainment in Pakistan on October 13, 2022.The film was widely praised by critics for its direction, acting, musical score, action sequences, and visual effects.It has grossed over $10 million worldwide, surpassing Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2's entire theatrical run and breaking numerous box-office records, including becoming the highest-grossing Pakistani film of all time as well as the highest-grossing Punjabi film of all time.
Directed by Bilal Lashari
Written by Nasir Adeeb
Bilal Lashari
Based on Characters
by Nasir Adeeb
Produced by Ammara Hikmat
Asad Jamil Khan
Starring
Fawad Khan
Hamza Ali Abbasi
Humaima Malik
Mahira Khan
Cinematography Bilal Lashari
Edited by Bilal Lashari
Music by Sarmad Ghafoor
Production
companies
Encyclomedia
Lashari Films
Distributed by AAA Motion Pictures
Geo Films
Mandiwala Entertainment
Release date
13 October 2022
Running time 153 minutes
Country Pakistan
Language Punjabi
Budget Rs. 45 crore (US$2.0 million)-Rs. 55 crore (US$2.4 million)
Box office Rs. 238.9 crore (US$10 million)
Plot :-
The film opens with Jeeva Natt with his clan, launching an attack on Haveli of Sardar Jatt. Despite being larger in number, they are overpowered and Sardar Jatt and his wife are killed. Maula, the son of Sardar Jatt and the sole survivor of the attack, is raised by a woman named Daani. One day Mooda, the actual son of Daani, takes Maula to his coach, who teaches wrestling. Mooda’s coach gets impressed by Maula and agrees on teaching him.
Maula grows up to be a wrestler and becomes famous, but at night he struggles with violent dreams of his past.
Maakha Natt, the son of Jeeva Natt, terrorizes the village of Maula by kidnapping a girl from his village and raping her several time in his haveli. Jeeva Natt, because of his old age, decides that he will declare someone else as the leader of his clan, but Daaro Natt, the daughter of Jeeva Natt, declares that only Noori Natt, the elder son of Jeeva Natt who is in prison because of his killing obsession, will become the ruler of the clan.
Before a fight, Maula is reached by an old man who tells him that he has the answer to Maula’s every question. He also tells Maula to meet him in the ruins of Sardar Jatt’s haveli. That night, Maula loses the fight for the first time in his life, but is saved by Mooda. The next day, Maula arrives at the ruins of Sardar Jatt’s haveli where, the old man, who was waiting for him to arrive, reveals to him that he is the son of Sardar Jatt. The old man then hands him the 'Gandasa' of his father. Maula arrives back to his village, only to find men of Natt clan terrorising the village once again. Maula, in rage, kills all the men. When Maakha comes to Maula’s village to investigate the killing of his men, he is humiliated and defeated by Maula.
When Maakha returns home to plot his revenge, his sister Daaro incensed upon hearing what he has agreed to verbally abuses him but before she could kill him he suicides and takes his own life. The Natt clan now try to avenge the humiliation that Maula Jatt has caused them while Maula Jatt tries to ensure that his decision is enforced and justice is done.
When Noori Natt gets out of jail, he tells the jailor that he has run out of competition and now wants a worthy opponent.
Upon everyone’s request, Maula agrees to apologise to the Natt clan. As soon as he leaves the village, Noori arrives at the village in search of Maula. When Moodha tells Noori that it was he who humilated his brother, Noori beats him to death. Maula returns and finds Moodha dead. He then swears to kill Noori. Maula arrives at Natt’s heveli but is captured and Jeeva Natt is killed by Noori. Noori declares Daaro as the leader of the clan, but she is betrayed and killed by her own clan. Maula also escapes. When Noori finds out about the death of his sister, he burns down the Muala’s village and captures everyone. Maula arrives at the village and fights Noori. At the end Noori is killed and Maula is declared the hero of the village.
Cast
Fawad Khan as Maula Jatt
Rehan Fareed Hiraj as Young Maula
Hamza Ali Abbasi as Noori Natt
Mahira Khan as Mukhoo Jattni
Humaima Malik as Daaro Nattni
Gohar Rasheed as Maakha Natt
Faris Shafi as Mooda
Shafqat Cheema as Jeeva Natt
Saima Baloch as Rajjo
Nayyer Ejaz as Jagoo Natt
Ali Azmat as Gogi
Babar Ali as Sardar Jatt (Maula’s father)
Resham as Malika Jatt (Maula’s mother)
Zia Khan as Ali (loyalist of Sardar Jatt)
Kamran Lashari as Narrator
Raheela Agha as Daani (Mooda's mother and Maula Jatt's foster mother)
Production
Development :-
On 14 December 2013 in an interview with The Express Tribune, Bilal Lashari announced that he will be directing Maula Jatt and said: "This will be my take on gandasa films which are blamed for the death of Lollywood. I think the gandasa genre was a missed opportunity for Pakistani cinema, and what better choice to utilize it then by paying homage to the cult classic Maula Jatt." To mold himself in the role, Hamza Ali Abbasi started training to work on muscle symmetry, proportion, endurance and cardiovascular health.
On 4 April 2014, Lashari announced that he had just finished the script of film and looking up for lead cast. He said, "Waar was appreciated for its stylistic elements, but was criticized for its script, which is why I want to spend more time on Maula Jatt's script." On 27 May 2014, the cast was chosen and the shooting of film was started revealing that film will be in three languages; English, Urdu and Punjabi.
Casting and filming :-
The film cast was revealed individually by Hamza Ali Abbasi. On advice of Bilal Lashari, on 16 November 2016, Adnan Jaffar and Shamoon Abbasi were removed from these cast after Asad Jamil Khan and Ammara Hikmat took over the project. In March 2015, Lashari announced that he is about to start the film shooting initially from Lahore. He revealed that film's story will be all new unlike the first part, but dialogues will be taken from 1979 film. On 8 January 2016, it was revealed that Fawad Khan will play the role of Maula Jatt opposite to Noori Nath played by Hamza Ali Abbasi.The film is shot with the Red Epic W camera.
Release :-
A trailer for the film was released on 21 December 2018 to a positive reaction[ with a release date of Eid ul-Fitr 2019. However, due to a copyright lawsuit filed by the producer of the 1979 movie, the release was postponed. A settlement was reached between the two parties in February 2020, after which the film was scheduled to be released in Pakistan and China simultaneously on Eid Al Fitr 2020, but was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In July 2022, it was rumored that the film would be released on 30 September 2022. After multiple delays, it was officially announced that the film would be released on October 13, 2022. It was officially announced that the film would be released on December 30, 2022 in India but Banned by India
Box office :-
As of 13 December 2022, The Legend of Maula Jatt made in budget of 45cr ($2.0M)-55cr ($2.4M) has grossed PKR 91.31cr ($4.06M) in Pakistan, and PKR 146.69cr ($6.52M) in other territories, for a worldwide total of PKR 238.9cr ($10.6M), breaking numerous box-office records including becoming the highest-grossing Pakistani film of all time (surpassing Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2 (2018) entire theatrical run, as well as the biggest-highest-grossing film of all time in Pakistan and the only Pakistani film to pass the 100 crore, 150 crore and 200 crore milestone.
The film had a worldwide opening of Rs. 51.00 crore (US$2.3 million), the biggest Pakistan-film opening of all time and nearly double Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2's previous record of 25.02 crore. It is also the fastest Pakistan film ever to eclipse the 20cr, 30cr, 40cr and 50 cr mark, in just three to four days weekend.On 20 October, the film's earnings at the global box office passed the entire theatrical run of JPNA 2 and became the fastest Pakistani film ever to gross more than 70 crore worldwide, amassing the amount in only one week. It also became the only film to surpass the threshold of 100 crore, 150 crore and 200 crore worldwide, within a month.
Pakistan :-
The Legend of Maula Jatt earned 11.30 crore in its opening weekend, surpassing Sultan and JPNA 2 to become the second biggest opening weekend of all time in Pakistan only behind Avengers: Endgame (14.50 crore), and the biggest opening weekend of 2022 in Pakistan (surpassing London Nahi Jaunga and Doctor Strange 2).The film opened on Friday and grossed 4.5 crore (including 1.75 crore from Thursday night previews) the highest ever opening day in Pakistan. It then collected 3.45 crore on Saturday and 3.35 crore on Sunday the highest grossed Saturday and Sunday ever.
The film then made 2.1 crore on Monday (the second highest non-holiday Monday) and then all time highest Tuesday gross of 2.2 crore. In its second weekend the film made PKR 9.11cr (the biggest second weekend of all time in Pakistan beating Avengers: Endgame) for a 10-day total of 29.41 crore. It was the fastest film to ever pass the 30 crore million milestone in Pakistan in just 11 days, beating Endgame and JPNA2.By its 11th weekend, the film hit 97.91 crore.
Other territories :-
Internationally, the film made record $355K from United Kingdom, the highest opening weekend for any Pakistani or Punjabi film kicking off at No.9 of the box office charts.The film largest overseas opening in UAE where it reached No. 1 with over $515,000.In the US and Canada, the film grossed $290K and $235K respectively, and in Australia it grossed $160,000. In both Canada and Australia, the film opened at No. 6 on the box office charts. Other releasing markets included Norway, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and South East Asia where it collectively grossed $250,000 in the opening weekend. Overall, the film debuted to $1.7 million (40 crore) on the overseas opening weekend, the highest for a Pakistani film.By its 5th weekend, the film had grossed £1.3 million at the UK box office.
Critical response :-
Cath Clarke of The Guardian called the film "Game of Thrones meets Gladiator" and gave it 3 out of 5 stars, writing "The movie ends, unsurprisingly, with a big fight between Maula and Noori – a fight in which Maula pauses to twiddle his fine moustache. Like I said, old school; still, I enjoyed every minute." Writing for The Express Tribune, Rafay Mahmood And Zeeshan Ahmad rated the film 4 out of 5 stars saying "While the film borrows nothing but the characters and bits of plot from the original, the themes it quite bravely endorses in this day and age call for a broader study of a shared sense of masculinity and rethinking of the box office prospects of South Indian cinema in Pakistan, in a better political climate of course."Eleen Bukhari of Geo News said "A lot of ups and downs, delays and legal setbacks later, TLoMJ has lived up to, if not surpassed expectations. It is an initiative never seen in Pakistan before. It is truly a labour of love."
Mahira Khan's performance was less well received. Syed Zain Raza, writing for the The Friday Times stated "One can’t deny the star power of Mahira, but it would be better to say that this wasn’t her film. Mukkho wasn’t meant for her. The contrast is even clearer when one compares her to Humaima who was flawless in this film."[48] Marsha Tayyab, sub editor of Dawn Images wrote "One thing that did put me off was Mahira Khan’s Mukkho. The supporting character to Maula was rather bland and to top it all off, Mahira’s Punjabi didn’t cut it for me. I would’ve liked to see Mehwish Hayat as Maula’s love interest instead, as Ms. Marvel gave us a glimpse of Hayat and Fawad’s sizzling chemistry." while Siham Basir, the Managing editor of Dawn Images wrote "The only downside for me was Mahira Khan’s Mukkho. Her Punjabi accent needed a lot of work and while I understand the need for star power and the casting of non-Punjabis for the film, it took years for the movie to be completed. She could have used those years to work on her accent and delivery because her performance fell flat.
