ISLAMABAD: The Legend of Maula Jatt, a blockbuster movie starring Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan, will be released in Indian theatres tomorrow, becoming the first Pakistan film to get access to the neighbouring market in over a decade.
A remake of a cult classic from 1979, the movie will be released in the northwestern state of Punjab and in select cinemas in the capital Delhi, according to Rajender Singh Jyala, chief programming officer of INOX Leisure, an Indian multiplexes chain.
“It will be played in Punjab and a few theatres in Delhi in INOX where there are Punjabi-speaking people,” Jyala told the Press Trust of India on December 26.
Pakistani hit ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ set to release in Indiahttps://t.co/j6Ga8ezUiu pic.twitter.com/t1cP0qM9nM
— External Publicity Wing (@epwing_official) December 29, 2022
Pakistani movies have long struggled to gain release dates in India due to the tense ties between the neighbours. In 2016, the Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India decided not to screen films featuring the crew from Pakistan.
Three years later, following a dogfight in which Islamabad downed at least one intruding New Delhi fighter jet, Pakistan suspended the screening of Indian films in cinemas.
Last week, another Indian multiplex chain, PVR Cinemas, shared the announcement of the release of the movie on its website and Instagram, before taking it down. “Presenting the official poster of #TheLegendofMaulaJatt! Coming to PVR this Friday,” the post read.
It is unclear whether the film will still run at its cinemas.
The entertainingly old-fashioned action movie, which has become the highest-grossing Pakistani film of all time amassing in excess of $10 million, was released on October 13.
After Pakistan, the most successful territory for the film has been the UK, where it has collected £1.43 million ($1.7 million) in the territory, going past Sanju which took $1.6 million, making it the highest-grossing South Asian film there since Padmaavat, which grossed $2.5 million, both in 2018.
Directed by Bilal Lashari, The Legend of Maula Jatt is although an adaptation of the original Maula Jatt but producers, Lashari and Ammara Hikmat, have said it is neither a remake nor a sequel.
The movie features Mahira and Fawad who are familiar to Indian audiences through their popular drama Humsafar and Bollywood. Fawad, who was most recently seen in the superhero series Ms Marvel, has featured in Khoobsurat, Kapoor & Sons, and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil while Mahira appeared opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Raees.
The last Pakistani film to get a theatrical release in India was Bol starring Mahira in 2011 and before that, Ramchand Pakistani starring Nandita Das and Rashid Farooqi in 2008. Khuda Kay Liye, which included Fawad in the ensemble cast alongside Naseeruddin Shah, was released in 2007.
The Legend of Maula Jatt started production in January 2017 and concluded in June 2019. Its release kept getting delayed due to copyright issues and the Covid-19 pandemic.
