aula Jat seems to have broken all records as did the earlier original version. However, Joyland has been banned from being publicly screened in the country. Initially, it was allowed to be screened once censored but later this permission, too, was withdrawn from more than sixty percent of the country. Exercising jurisdiction discretion, it was banned in the Punjab.

The original Maula Jat, which is now seen to be a prime example of a film made in the country, had initially faltered at the box office and then picked up and in such a way that it became impossible to be taken off the screen because of the response from the audience that it received. The critics and the film buffs started to see virtues in it due to its popularity. As success breeds many fathers, it was declared to be the most successful film ever made by the industry in the country. It was reasoned that it did strike a chord with the people, the two principal characters were eulogised and imitated, the dialogues were mimicked and also uttered verbatim, and the tale of vengeance was much praised. More so, because it was not a contest between unequals but matching blow for blow, the confrontation took the form of a vendetta much admired and so resonated with the psyche of certain people.

People lauding violence and justice delivered through it justified the blood and the gore. They found the larger than life grotesqueness of it appealing and the lack of any nuance and finesses as being either meant only for the populace or the burger class. In its crudeness lay the essence of the drama, in its crassness, the spirit of a culture yelling out loud.

Sultan Rahi and Mustafa Qureshi in the roles of Maula Jat and Noori Nat looked appropriately rough and gruff and the tone and accent of their dialogues was as close to the authentic as possible. The landscape of the rural Punjab too was captured as plain and simple, no effort made to Photoshop it. It was a case of endless violence, whether physical or verbal. Its longevity established its true credentials as the essence of the culture, its one long bloody feud as being the true image of macho Punjab.

Sultan Rahi and Mustafa Qureshi in the roles of Maula Jat and Noori Nat looked appropriately rough and gruff and the tone and accent of their dialogues was as close to the authentic as possible.

The recent Maula Jat is a post-modern production with little respect for the authenticity of the period piece. A family feud, may be of the well-off, is located in the palaces and forts built for the kings to secure the stamp of their kingdom. The costumes, too, are not truly traditional but have been contemporised. The accent and the delivery of the actors is mostly a put-on and betrays enunciation as uttered.

What is common in both versions is violence. It can be said that the violence in the recent production is more blatant and extreme compared to the first one – with the heads being chopped off, the gushing fountains of blood and the glorification of the archetypal blood stained gandasa. The violence, if anything, is more gory and in the face than in the first version and is just as much romanticised as in the original version, if not more.

It is a little surprising that in-the-face violence which is replete in the film and the running theme of vengeance and justice being dispensed by the individual is vindicated and almost exalted in the film and no one mentions it as being offensive.

Joyland, on the other hand, is an attempt to find love and be in love even for those who have no place in society. They are not worthy of being considered as equals, for no fault of their own but having been dealt a cruel hand by nature. Hence, a coy effort at defying the prejudicial norms in reaching out to persons considered untouchables.

The rivers of blood compared to love across the divide, even gender divide – what should one opt for. The fact that Maula Jat is being lauded and is being framed as a huge success and the other is being condemned as crossing the moral boundary and not worthy of being screened in the fear of corrupting the youth and the middle aged is puzzling. Well, it is for us to decide which way the dice should roll. Heroism as synonymous with bloodletting and the salvation of an order by an individual or the redemption through expression of love even if it dares not take its name.

The writer is a culture critic based in Lahore.