Ever since the teaser for The Legend of Maula Jatt was dropped, the film has had to face some issue or another. The film, which was initially scheduled to be released on Eid-ul-Fitr this year, has now been postponed and a new release date has not yet been announced.
The film was mired in controversy when Sarwar Bhatti came forward and claimed that Maula Jatt was his property. He then filed an application for a stay order to prevent the director from using the character, name and dialogues and asked for the film to be banned from releasing. However, the Lahore High Court, after listening to the hearing, forwarded the case to the Censorboard and asked them to determine whether copyright issues exist or not.
In the latest turn of events, it has emerged that the Punjabi classic was reportedly produced by six partners that made up the Bahu Films Corporation, of which Chaudhry Jamil and Sarwar Bhatti were the main investors. This means that Sarwar Bhatti does not solely own the copyrights to the film. Chaudhry Jamil’s son has come forward with the claim and accused Sarwar Bhatti of misrepresenting facts and concealing important information.
Meanwhile, Sarwar Bhatti has rubbished the claims saying that he separated his business from Chaudhry Jameel in 1984, ten years before he was murdered. He also accused the film’s director, Bilal Lashari, and producer Ammara Hikmat of using “cheap tricks to corner him.”
