'The Legend of Maula Jatt' free from legal turmoil

The producer of the original 'Maula Jatt' has withdrawn his case

LAHORE: The Legend of Maula Jatt has finally been free from all the legal entanglement after Sarwer Bhatti, the producer of the original film withdrew all cases. Bhatti has denied all rumors of a financial settlement between himself and the producers of the film.

Bhatti instead attributes the decision on his desire for the welfare of local cinema.

"In my career I struggled a lot for the welfare of local cinema and film industry. If the film industry could be strengthened by withdrawing the case, then I will do so. Surely more volume of local releases across the country would  benefit the industry," Bhatti told The Express Tribune.



The main producers of The Legend of Maula Jatt, Ammara Hikmat and Bilal Lashari were embroiled in a two year legal battle with Bhatti. The latter had filed a case over copyright infringement, claiming that his company Bahoo Films owned the rights to the Maula Jatt story. As a result The Legend of Maula Jatt's release was blocked. The team behind The Legend of Maula Jatt had subsequently filed cases against Bhatti.

"I allowed them for using copy rights of only my film Maula Jatt and also asked them to take back the cases they filed against me. They and their parents had approached me. When our own children make mistakes, we forgive them. Both Bilal and Ammara are like my own children so I forgive them," he said.



Bhatti also recalled the time when he produced the original Maula Jatt, noting that at that time local cinema was facing a difficult situation. "When I produced the trend setter Maula Jatt, like today our cinema was in crisis at that time. While the film industry in the country has witnessed a revival, the Punjabi cinema is still facing certain issues.  I hope that The Legend of Maula Jatt plays an important  role in reviving the local cinema," Bhatti said.

Hikmat revealed that some family friends helped resolve misunderstanding. “Mr Bhatti agreed to withdraw his claims made before various courts and we are filing for voluntary dismissal of all proceedings initiated by us,” she said. “Mr Bhatti has taken this step in the larger interest of the film industry and promised us his full support even in future.

The original Maula Jatt is one of the most commercially successful films to come out of Pakistan. Bhatti's classic was released in 1979 under the banner of Bahoo Films, starring the late Sultan Rahi as the lead  and Mustafa Qureshi as the antagonist.



As a spiritual sequel to 1975's Wehshi Jatt, Maula Jatt inspired the 'Gandasa' genre in the country leading to a wave of Punjabi films with similar theme springing up.

The Legend of Maula Jatt stars Fawad Khan, Humaima Malick, Mahira Khan and Hamza Ali Abbasi in lead roles. Much like Maula Jatt and Wehshi Jatt, the film is a retelling of Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi's urdu play Gandasa.

"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 utilise it then by paying homage to the cult classic Maula Jatt,"director and producer Bilal Lashari had told The Express Tribune in an earlier interview.

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