The Legend of Maula Jatt

The film opens with the clan of Jeeva Natt, launching an attack on the Haveli of Sardar Jatt. They overpower and kill Jatt and his wife. Maula, Jatt's son and the sole survivor of the attack, is raised by a woman named Daani. One day Dani's biological son Mooda takes Maula to his wrestling coach. The coach is impressed by Maula and agrees to teach him. Maula grows up to become a famous wrestler, but at night he struggles with violent dreams of his past. He has no clear memory of his family. Maakha Natt, one of the sons of Jeeva, terrorizes the village of Maula by kidnapping a girl from his village and raping her in his haveli. Jeeva, due to his old age, decides that he will declare someone else as the leader of his clan; however, Daaro Natt, Jeeva's daughter, declares that only Noori Natt, the elder son of Jeeva who is in prison because of his obsession with murder, will become the ruler of the clan. Before a fight, Maula is approached 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 is heavily intoxicated and loses a fight for the first time in his life, but is saved by Mooda who is badly injured in the process. 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 the 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 is incensed upon hearing what he has to tell her. She berates him and moves to kill him; but before she can do so, Maakha jumps off a ledge, taking his own life. The Natt clan now try to avenge the humiliation that Maula Jatt has caused them. Meanwhile, Maula tries to convince the villagers to stand up against the cruelty they face, whilst the villagers insist that he has brought death upon them all in the form of the wrath of the Natt clan. When Noori Natt, immensely skilled in combat, gets out of jail, he tells the jailor that he has run out of competition and now wants a worthy opponent. He is soon made aware of Maula, who has become well-known for his fighting capabilities. Upon everyone’s request, Maula agrees to apologise to the Natt clan for the safety of the villagers. However, as soon as he leaves the village, Noori arrives in search of Maula. When confronted by Noori, Moodha, who is unaware of Noori's identity tells him that it was he who humiliated his brother. Noori upon hearing this, easily bests Moodha in combat and despite pleas from Moodha's mother, kills him. Maula returns and finds Moodha dead. He then swears to kill Noori. Maula arrives at Natt’s haveli to challenge him in combat, but is ambushed and captured by Jeeva Natt. Noori accuses his father of taking away his competition and kills him. Noori then declares Daaro as the leader of the clan, but she is betrayed and killed by her own clan who then frame Maula for killing her. When Noori finds out about the death of his sister, he burns down Maula’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) • Ali Raza as Jaggo's guard == 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. According to the producers, the film is neither a remake nor a sequel of the original Maula Jatt, but rather an adaptation. 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 reception 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. In 2017, Muhammad Sarwar Bhatti of Bahoo Films, the producer of the 1979 film Maula Jatt, filed a suit before the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan tribunal seeking an injunctive order against the exhibition of The Legend of Maula Jatt. In 2019, he also submitted multiple applications for a stay order in Lahore High Court to prohibit the producer and director of the new movie from using material which may violate his intellectual property. Responding to these claims, producer Ammara Hikmat said, "the malicious claims made by Sarwar Bhatti are false and frivolous" and hinted at taking the matter to court since Nasir Adeeb, the writer of the 1979 film, had officially handed over the rights of his characters – including Maula Jatt and Noori Natt (among others) – to director Bilal Lashari and Hikmat. On 9 February 2020, after a lengthy legal battle, a settlement was reached between the two parties. Bhatti was recognized as the exclusive copyright and trademark owner of the 1979 movie. However, he gave permission to the filmmakers of the new movie to use the content from his original work and agree to withdraw all other court petitions regarding its release. This agreement was confined to the production, release, promotion, and distribution of The Legend of Maula Jatt and did not apply to any future movies that may violate the rights of the old movie, which were retained by Bahoo Films. Similarly, Bahoo Films would have to record a statement before the Intellectual Property Tribunal, Lahore, declaring that the matter had been resolved and that Ammara Hikmat's Encylomedia PR was allowed to use the content of Maula Jatt for the upcoming movie. After this 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. The film was released on 500 screens worldwide. == Reception ==

Box office As of 13 December 2022, The Legend of Maula Jatt made in approx. PKR 45 crores has grossed in Pakistan, and in other territories, for a worldwide total of , breaking numerous box-office records including becoming the highest-grossing Pakistani film of all time (surpassing Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2), as well as the highest-grossing film in Pakistan and the highest-grossing Punjabi-language film. It was also the highest-grossing South Asian film in the UK from 2018 to 2022. and the only Pakistani film to surpass the threshold of 100 crore, 150 crore, 200 crore and 250 crore. 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. Other territories Internationally, the film made a 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 had its largest overseas opening in the 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 Southeast Asia where it collectively grossed $250,000 in the opening weekend. Overall, the film collected US$1.7 million (40 crore) on the overseas opening weekend, the highest for a Pakistani film. 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 wrote, "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." Conversely, Carla Hay of Culture Mix gave a negative review, writing, "The problem is that The Legend of Maula Jatt filmmakers didn’t care enough about casting skilled actors who can say dialogue in a talented and believable way. The acting in The Legend of Maula Jatt is absolutely cringeworthy—either too flat or too exaggerated. Worst of all, there’s no suspense or any real surprises in this long-winded action film, because everything in the movie plays out like a formulaic 'heroes versus villains' video game that is a lazy imitation of better ones that came before it.″ Mahira Khan's performance was less well received. Syed Zain Raza, writing for 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." 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." ==Sequel==

The producers announced that a sequel titled The Legend Of Maula Jatt: Chapter II is in development. == See also ==