The Legend of Maula Jatt, it has been reported by a local media outlet that the team of the remake is “being marketed in violation of copyrights of the original classic”.
Muttaqi Sarwar, son of Sarwar Bhatti who produced the hit 1979 film starring Sultan Rahi and Mustafa Qureshi while talking to the local media outlet said, “Right after the release of Waar, its director Bilal Lashari announced that he was going to make The Legend of Maula Jatt, and my father, who had made Maula Jatt, told him that since we owned the trademark and the intellectual copyright, Lashari cannot use it without purchasing the rights from us. The other option was to co-produce.”
Muttaqi, who also heads Bahoo Films Corporation further said that “the tribunal had restrained Lashari and the producers from using the title, characters and dialogues, adding that the case was still pending. They also filed a case with the Federal Investigation Agency against the team of the new film, and an inquiry was ongoing”.
Following this, the IPO tribunal on Friday issued contempt notices to producer Ammara Hikmat, director Bilal Lashari, writer Nasir Adeeb, the star cast of the new film, the information secretary and chairmen of all censor boards.
“I sent warning notices to everyone associated with the film, including the lead actors, to distance themselves from the project since it was under trial, but none of them listened,” claimed Muttaqi.