The Legend of Maula Jatt roars at box office

LAHORE: Pakistan’s most expensive production ever, The Legend of Maula Jatt has captivated millions of viewers both at home and globally with its magnificent plot, swoon-worthy romance, swelling soundtracks and attractive lead characters.

The acting, directing, writing, cinematography, and the overall production value of this classic film have all come together to tell one cohesive, entertaining and impactful story. In essence, men behind this film have used all these tools of filmmaking to tell a compelling story that makes one feel part of it, totally mesmerised and spell-bound!! Visibly destined to be one of the most revered movies in Lollywood history, the film has truly revived the fading glory of Pakistani film industry, according to critics.

Multiple artists with various talents have worked together to make one unified product in line with the spirit behind the making of a film, which is a collaborative medium.

Brilliant screenplay, which is deemed to be a blueprint that guides every other department working on a movie to go for its own decision-making, helped the cinematographers exactly know what to shoot and gave the director a complete idea what to direct.

Such was the bonding and chemistry among all humans involved in this production! Costume designers par excellence and seasoned sound mixers also chipped in to play their part behind the curtains. It is a remake of the 1979 cult classic Maula Jatt.

According to Geo TV, the film is a modern retelling on a legendary Punjab rivalry, whereby a local hero named Maula Jatt takes on a leader of a brutal gang, Noori Natt. Encyclomedia and Lashari films joint production in association with AAA Motion Pictures and its distributors, Mandviwalla Entertainment (Pakistan) and Moviegoers Entertainment (overseas) have announced a smash hit opening for ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’, both in domestic and overseas markets.

In its opening weekend, the largest-mounted Pakistan-made, Punjabi language film to date has shown collections of Rs510 million. The movie’s presenting partner in Pakistan is the country’s biggest media giant, Geo Films.

‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ was released worldwide on 500+ screens across 25 countries, making it the highest and widest ever release for any Pakistani or Punjabi film yet. The film grossed Rs11.27 crore (US$ 526,902) in the domestic market. It grossed £315,000 in the UK in its first weekend (four days) from 79 locations. This marks the highest opening weekend collection for any Pakistan-made or Punjabi language film in the UK to date, entering the UK Box Office Top 10 at position 9.

In Canada, ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ grossed CA$324,000 ranking No 6 in the Canadian Box Office. Total collections for North America exceed US$600,000. In UAE too, The film grossed US$515,000+ in four days and reached Number 1 in the UAE Box Office, indicating the enormous support audiences have shown for the film. Other performing territories are Australia (AU$255,000), Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and South East Asia.

The Geo TV has reported: “All the tickets were sold out in the first week of the blockbuster film’s worldwide release as the series of house full shows continues in Pakistan as well. Several overseas Pakistanis have been complaining over the non-availability of movie tickets due to house full shows.

“A movie-goer in Germany also noted that there are long queues to watch this film. Majority of the cinema lovers have said that they have not seen such a unique movie. Many of them also expressed their desire to re-watch this masterpiece.

“Leaders of the Sikh community in Montreal, Canada, also praised the film. A Sardar said that he had specially taken leave from the office to watch the movie, dubbing it the best film of South Asia. Another Sikh said he enjoyed the movie so much that he wished to watch it again.”

The phenomenal response to the film has led to full house screenings across the world and queues outside cinemas, with exhibitors continuously scheduling additional screenings to meet filmgoers’ demand. Such has been the adulation for the film that standing ovations have been recorded at cinemas globally. The number of screens for the movie are increasing every day.

Commenting on the film’s domestic performance, Director Bilal Lashari said, “I’m beyond overwhelmed by the love the film has received from audiences and critics alike the world over. We are so proud that ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ has been instrumental in putting Pakistan-made cinema on the global map as it continues to win over hearts in theaters across the world.”

Producer Ammara Hikmat said, “‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ has been our labour of love for a number of years. The pandemic came and returned but we knew we had to hold out for a theatrical release, as the film is undoubtedly a big screen experience, as has been proved by the sheer numbers of cinemagoers who have turned out at the cinemas and the full house screenings, with exhibitors adding extra shows to the weekend programmes.

“We’re so delighted that our film has broken previous records and set a new benchmark for Pakistan-made cinema, loved and lauded not only domestically but by audiences and critics globally.”

Pranab Kapadia, Founder and CEO, Moviegoers Entertainment said on its overseas performance, “‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ has done extremely well in all the overseas markets making it a blockbuster in its first weekend itself. The film has exceeded our expectations at the Box Office with many new territories, centres and shows being added in week 2 which is unprecedented.”

Nadeem Mandviwalla, CEO of Mandviwalla Entertianment, Distributor of ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ in Pakistan said, “Considering that three biggest cinema chains, comprising of more than fifty percent of cinemas in the country have not supported the most expensive film of Pakistan, still the Box Office Gross every day is astronomical and remains unprecedented in the history of Pakistan industry. I have never seen any film performing on this scale in my 42 years.”

Produced by Encyclomedia and Lashari films in association with AAA Motion Pictures, ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ was released across cinemas worldwide on October13, 2022. Along with the unprecedented box office collections, the film opened to extremely positive reviews and critical plaudit, appreciating the stellar performances of its leading cast including Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Humaima Malik, Gohar Rasheed, Faris Shafi & Ali Azmat. It has generated an overall IMDb rating of 9.5 out of 10.

Critic Mohammad Kamran Jawaid wrote in Pakistani newspaper, Dawn, that (The film) “...from this moment onwards, (has) set a new, nearly impossible to reach, benchmark for Pakistani cinema… TLoMJ is as close to flawless filmmaking as we can get. It is a big film that respects its characters, the worth of the actors, the audience’s time and its expectations for a high-concept action film.”

Another film critic, Rafay Mehmood (Tribune) compares it to big budget South Indian movies but with “...a lot more devotion to sense than i’s South Asian parallels”. He also feels that “...the film stands, neck to neck, with Rajmoulie and Prashanth league of cinema, at least for the desi audiences”.

‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ is the world’s biggest-scale Punjabi language film of all time, with Hollywood collaborators including VXF supervisor, Brian Adler (Avatar: The Way of Water, Candyman, Joker, Avengers: Endgame, Ad Astra) among other mainstream collaborations.

An eminent British media house, The Guardian opined: “Imagine the Game of Thrones crossed with the Gladiator and you’ll have something like this entertainingly old-fashioned action movie with epic levels of throat slashing, spectacular scenery and a fair bit of camp. Rumoured to be Pakistan’s highest-budget film, this remake of a cult classic from 1979 is the story of a young noble boy, Maula Jatt, who is spirited away to a poor village when a rival clan slaughters his parents. After a flashback to that massacre, we meet Maula (Fawad Khan) as a young man. The size of a well-fed bear, he earns a living fighting in gladiatorial games, pummelling poor souls from neighbouring villages. But the discovery of his past sets him off on a path of revenge against the Natt family responsible for killing his parents.”

The Guardian added: “That journey is predictable enough but made juicily watchable by a trio of scenery-chewing villains from the Natt clan. Meanest of them is eldest son Noori (Hamza Ali Abbasi), an untamable mountain of a man who speaks in a menacingly gentle purr. Noori has chosen to live in prison, having heard it’s where the fiercest men in the country are kept. There’s a wonderful weariness in his disappointment at the poor quality of opponents.”