25 days to prep, six days to shoot: Bilal Lashari details final showdown between Maula, Noori

The mastermind behind Pakistan's grandest offering details the last fight sequence in an exclusive chat

KARACHI:

The Legend of Maula Jatt has been nothing short of a sweet reward in a drought that had been the Pakistani cinema. The film, which has gone on to become the highest-grossing local film to date with over Rs400 crore global earnings, has been lauded by fans and critics for its exceptional cast, nail-biting plot and praise-worthy cinematography.

Bilal Lashari, the mad genius behind this magnum opus, had a vision he brought to life oh-so-spectacularly. With the right ensemble cast and a better team behind the masterpiece, the filmmaker has managed to work through the complexity of his creative power and emerged the victor on the other end.

The latest proof of his brilliance is The Legend of Maula Jatt's recent nod at the US stunt awards for the final dust-up scene between Hamza Ali Abbasi's Noori Nath and Fawad Khan's Maula Jatt. The film readies to go head-to-head with worldwide competition at the Taurus World Stunt Awards. While acquiring the title of the highest-grossing Pakistani film was undoubtedly an impressive feat, the list grows with this nomination under the Best Fight category.

Lashari, the mastermind behind Pakistan's grandest offering, details the final fight sequence in an exclusive chat with The Express Tribune. The final showdown between Maula and Noori was the first scene the filmmaker shot for the film. "It's been quite a while since I thought about this," Lashari told me over the phone. "Fawad and Hamza prepped for around 20-25 days with our stunt coordinator, Ian Van Temperley. Ian helped our actors with difficult moves in the scene, such as flips. We shot the final scene of the film for five to six days and completed it."

Adding on, Lashari commented, "See, the action scenes take quite a bit of time, and we needed to get this right." The director added he always wanted a mindblowing all-out fight in the film. "A strong fight sequence is sort of an item number for any action film, you know," he commented. "While there were other fight scenes in the film, my vision to have an elaborate one as Maula Jatt's showdown was for it to be more choreographed - like a well-synched dance."

Furthering his thoughts, Lashari commented, "It's almost shot like that because there's a certain rhythm between the pair's intensity. The rivalry is very visible." Detailing the cinematography, Lashari remarked, "There's elaborate camerawork; the idea is grander and presented in larger-than-life frames. At the same time, we didn't want it to be staged; we tried keeping it as real as possible. The cameras we used in these were hand-helds and steady cams, as well as detailed visual effects. The sound also plays an imperative role when it comes to nailing a shot. Any action scene is made impactful with the correct sound effects and we made sure that was added."

The local nomination stands against Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Gray Man, amongst others. The Taurus World Stunt Awards are a yearly celebration of the achievements of stunt performers from film industries across the world. Since their debut in 2001, the deciding committee for the ceremonious awards have been known to hold the highest standards in terms of recognition.

Held in Los Angeles every year, past winners in the Best Fight category have been major Hollywood blockbuster films such as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Kingsman, Fast and Furious 6, Inception, and The Avengers, with local cinema sensation The Legend of Maula Jatt joining the race to earn its rank in the impressive listing.

About The Legend of Maula Jatt

The acclaimed film, which was released in October of 2022, evidently shows no signs of slowing down, gaining a momentum seen like no other locally produced offering in just its initial weeks of release.

Proof of this lies in the fact that the movie is known to have become the highest-grossing Punjabi film of all time at the global box office in the fourth week of its release after already acquiring the titles of the highest-grossing Pakistani film and the second-highest-grossing film in the UK for the year 2022 as well as the most-watched South Asian film in Norway.

The Legend of Maula Jatt was released in 25 different territories with 500+ screens - making it one of the biggest releases to come out of Pakistan. 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 consumers’ demands. Such has been the adulation for the film that standing ovations have been recorded at cinemas globally. The number of screens for the movie is increasing every day.

A reboot of Yunus Malik’s 1979 cult classic Maula Jutt, the film is a re-telling of the story of the rivalry between Maula Jatt and Noori Natt. Directed by Lashari and produced by Ammara Hikmat, The Legend of Maula Jatt also stars Mahira Khan, Humaima Malick, Mirza Gohar Rasheed, Faris Shafi, Ali Azmat, Nayyer Ejaz, Shafqat Cheema, Raheela Agha, Zia Khan and Saima Baloch.

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