The Legend of Maula Jatt is a 2022 Pakistani Punjabi-language action drama film directed and written by Bilal Lashari. The film is an adaptation and a soft reboot of the 1979 Lollywood film Maula Jatt. Produced by Ammara Hikmat and Asad Jamil Khan under the production banner of Lashari Films and Encyclomedia. It is based on the characters and stories by Nasir Adeeb. The film stars Fawad Khan as the titular character with Hamza Ali Abbasi, Humaima Malik, Faris Shafi and Mahira Khan. In the film, a local folk hero named Maula Jatt takes on his archnemesis and the leader of a brutal clan, Noori Natt.
Development of a Maula Jatt remake was announced in December 2013 by director Bilal Lashari who completed a script treatment for the film a year later. Asad Jamil Khan and Ammara Hikmat came on board as producers in November 2016, with Hamza Ali Abbasi and Fawad Khan signing on as lead actors. Principal photography began in January 2017 and concluded in June 2019. The film was initially scheduled for theatrical release during multiple dates in 2019–2020, but kept getting delayed due to the copyright related issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. The film has been described as the most expensive film of Pakistan to date. The film music score is composed by Sarmad Ghafoor.
The Legend of Maula Jatt premiered at Cue Cinemas in Lahore on October 12, 2022 and was released theatrically on October 13, 2022. The film received positive reviews from critics for its direction, performances, action sequences, and visual effects. It has grossed $13.8 million worldwide, surpassing Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2's entire theatrical run and breaking numerous box-office records, and became the highest-grossing Pakistani film of all time, as well as the highest-grossing Punjabi-language film of all time.
Plot
The film opens with Jeeva Natt with his clan, launching an attack on Haveli of Sardar Jatt. Despite being larger in number, they are overpowered and Sardar Jatt and his wife are killed. Maula, the son of Sardar Jatt and the sole survivor of the attack, is raised by a woman named Daani. One day Mooda, the actual son of Daani, takes Maula to his coach, who teaches wrestling. Mooda’s coach gets impressed by Maula and agrees to teach him.
Maula grows up to be a wrestler and becomes famous, but at night he struggles with violent dreams of his past. He has no clear memory of his family and past.
Maakha Natt, the son of Jeeva Natt, terrorizes the village of Maula by kidnapping a girl from his village and raping her several time in his haveli. Jeeva Natt, because of his old age, decides that he will declare someone else as the leader of his clan, but Daaro Natt, the daughter of Jeeva Natt, declares that only Noori Natt, the elder son of Jeeva Natt who is in prison because of his killing obsession, will become the ruler of the clan.
Before a fight, Maula is approached by an old man who tells him that he has the answer to Maula’s every question. He also tells Maula to meet him in the ruins of Sardar Jatt’s haveli. That night, Maula is heavily intoxicated and loses a fight for the first time in his life, but is saved by Mooda who is badly injured in the process. The next day, Maula arrives at the ruins of Sardar Jatt’s haveli where the old man, who was waiting for him to arrive, reveals to him that he is the son of Sardar Jatt. The old man then hands him the 'Gandasa' of his father. Maula arrives back to his village, only to find men of the Natt clan terrorising the village once again. Maula, in rage, kills all the men. When Maakha comes to Maula’s village to investigate the killing of his men, he is humiliated and defeated by Maula.
When Maakha returns home to plot his revenge, his sister Daaro is incensed upon hearing what he has to tell her. She berates him and moves to kill him but before she can do so, Maakha jumps off a ledge taking his own life. The Natt clan now try to avenge the humiliation that Maula Jatt has caused them. Meanwhile Maula Jatt tries to convince the villagers to stand up against the cruelty they face, while the villagers insist that he has brought death upon them all in the form of the wrath of the Natt clan.
When Noori Natt, immensely skilled in combat, gets out of jail, he tells the jailor that he has run out of competition and now wants a worthy opponent. He is soon made aware of Maula, who has become well-known for his fighting capabilities.