To bring Fawad Khan's The Legend of Maula Jatt to India is a wise move

For those of us movie fanatics who were looking at ending the year with a bang in the cinemas, here it comes. The Fawad Khan starrer The Legend Of Maula Jatt, the global box office smasher directed by Bilal Lashari, which contours the adventures of the Robin Hood-styled hero, is all set to be released by Zee Studios in India on December 30. A well-placed source from Zee tells Firstpost, “Yes it’s true. There is a genuine demand for the film. It has broken records wherever released. We want to bring this phenomenal film to India and we are doing just that.” The initial plan was to release this blockbuster film on December 23. “But we wanted to avoid a direct clash with Rohit Shetty’s _Cirkus_ . Not that there is any comparison of The Legend Of Maula Jatt with Cirkus. They are completely different films. But we had a clear Friday on December 30. We wanted the year to end with something special.” A prominent filmmaker who saw The Legend Of Maula Jatt outside India is happy to hear that the film is coming to India.

“Cinema should be removed from politics. It is an outstanding family, wildly entertaining and Fawad Khan is sensational in the title role. It makes you forget where it comes from. It just makes us riveted to where it is going,” the filmmaker exults. Cinema has no borders. The fact that Pakistan has embraced Lataji’s Mera dil yeh pukare aaja and the song has been given a fresh lease of life sixty years after it was first released, just proves that cinema and music have no borders, The decision to bring Fawad Khan’s blockbuster The Legend Of Maula Jatt to India is a wise one, if for no other reason than for its sheer cinematic power. A tour de force of yoking history with fantasy The Legend Of Maula Jatt is an epic in the truest sense. Its budget, a fraction of what it cost to make Brahmastra and RRR is a textbook on economized splendour. To treat Maula Jatt as a “Pakistani” product is exceedingly narrow and irrational. It’s like looking at Malala as belonging to Pakistan. Some moments in history have no borders. I had a friend in Lahore who used to challenge me to prove Lataji was Indian. “She belongs to everyone everywhere. You cannot cling to her talent as your birthright.” Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.