LAHORE-The Legend of Maula Jatt passes with summa cum laude as the cine-goers are all gaga on the movie, giving little breathing space to the critics to ink down their thoughts. 
Hands down, the high quality of the cinematography, slick editing and professional execution of the engrossed fighting scenes makes one wonder why Pakistan is still far behind in the world of cinema despite such talent available in the film industry. Peeping into the history of The Legend of Maula Jatt, one needs to dig deeper, all the way to the year 1979, discovering that the original film Maula Jatt was an inspiration from a short story written by the late Ahmad Nadeem Qasami titled “Gandasa” focusing on the culture and lifestyle in a rural Punjab city of Gujranwala. It was too, a box-office blockbuster with a star-studded cast in the likes of Mustafa Qureshi and the late Sultan Rahi, directed by Younas Malik and produced by Sarwar Bhatti. The film proved to be a game-changer for Sultan Rahi, who rose to stardom overnight and became the die-heart hero of the 80s.
The two iconic characters of the then Maula Jatt, Sultan Rahi as Maula Jatt and Mustafa Qureshi as his arch nemeses Noori Natt became a household name and were later cast in aso-called unofficial sequel Maula Jatt in London released in 1981 which also broke all the records. Nasir Adeeb, who wrote the original Maula Jatt script has rewritten the screenplay of The Legend of Maula Jatt in companionship with Bilal Lashari, whose directorial debut was the film Waar released in 2013.
To establish the storyline, the director intricately takes the audience on a journey with visuals credibly recreating the ambience of the rural lifestyle of Punjab. The background musical score by Sarmad Ghafoor, compliments the screenplay in which women folk are shown harvesting in the fields, children chasing in the narrow lanes, toddlers on tricycles plying around their mud houses and girls roaming around the small artificial jewellery kiosks. 
The camera then pans to a fighting arena, a typical landmark of Gujranwala where the guru Phelwaan, played by Ali Azmat is giving instructions to the trainers and supervising the fights. The audience by now is well settled in their comfort zone to absorb what is in store for them. The director is quick to introduce bloodshed right from the scene where young Maula sees his parents, Resham and Babar Ali (guest appearance) slain by the members of the rival clan, making it much easier for the audience to make predictions for the next remaining two plus hours on the roll. Fast forward 25 years and here comes our hero, bearded Fawad Khan as Maula, yoking his rumbling temperament and wreaking mayhem on the tyrants with his legendary grinding axe but at the same time taciturn and brooding. It leaves no doubt that he earns his living, fighting gladiatorial games, pummeling his opponents in nanoseconds on the ground. The follow-up scenes make it obvious that in the past 25 years, Maula has not come to terms with the nightmares, where he dreams of his parents being butchered by the rivals in front of his eyes. The screen time in Maula’s introductory scenes leaves no doubt that the protagonist, Fawad Khan is a gladiatorial character oozing a beastly élan and quenching his thirst for revenge on his parents from the Natt clan. Lashari is smart enough to waste no time and introduces all but one character in the first few scenes, leaving the best for the last. Mahira Khan, as Mukkho, makes her entry as a bubbly character in love with Maula, Gohar Rasheed, as rival Maakha Natta humorous but at the same time a killing machine character, Humaima Malik as Daaro Nattni, the diabolic sister of the two Natt brothers and Shafqat Cheema, as Jeeva Natt,  the tribal chief of Natt clan and father of three. As the story moves ahead, enters Hamza Ali Abbassi, sporting a beard as an ominous untamable Noori utters in a gentle purr, the ironic catchphrase — ‘Soniye’ (‘Dear’). To make his presence felt, Noori craves the unfettered power of a tyrant even shortening his father’s life in front of his minions. The day finally arrives in an empty coliseum where the protagonist, Fawad Khan takes on his antagonist Hamza Ali Abbassi leading to the finishing line of the film.  The credit goes to director Lashari for turning a film that might have been remembered as a satisfying revenge spectacle into one written on the partition of Pakistan and India on Naseem Hijazi’s novel Khaak Aur Khoon. The film is pregnant with lavish frames, extravagant sets and flawless production quality. 
The fight sequences, sword play and chases are very opulently choreographed and brilliantly edited. However, having said that, The Legend of Maula Jatt is also a hallmark of severed limbs, countless beheadings and throat slashing, painting the town red. Hamza Ali Abbassi nailed his charter as Noori Natt. His dialogue delivery with all the required poses, his gait and his husky tone left the audience spellbound, giving an A-star. It will be right to say Fawad Khan managed to retain the title of a heart throb hero but his looks and physique were nowhere closer to that of Sultan Rahi’s 79 Maula Jatt’s character. He secures high marks for his acting skills but the magical spell that he casts over his audience did not go well while beating everyone and anyone who challenged him to death. 
The tall dark and handsome persona of the lady-killer of Humsafar’s Asher was on the contrary. Mahira Khan too succeeded in keeping the status quo of a flop silver screen actress. Looking back on her list of films, the last one Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad too tanked within weeks of its release. The Khiraat of Humsafar has to accept the fact that the silver screen is not her forte. The director could have envisaged her character by at least dressing up the Bollywood star of the film Raees in colourful costumes as a mutyurain, who emerges in many scenes from nowhere to look at her aspiring lover Maula Jatt. Her dialogue delivery was in much need of a sugar rush and a tutorial lesson on the Punjabi dialect would have surely come in handy. Thinking like Mahira and delivering like Mukkho did manage to bring much-needed smiles to the audience’s faces during her screen time and many were heard correcting her ascent while bursting into laughter. It will not be too much of an exaggeration if one goes an extra mile to give credit to Gohar Rasheed’s role as the young Maakha Natt who carved a niche leaving the audience dumb founded. There were so many twists and turns in his low brow character, scenes and dialogue delivery establishing him as evil with no boundaries in the first few acts and his acting prowess did not disappoint. Humaima Malik and Shafqat Cheema did justice to their supporting characters during their limited screen time.    
The film is epic, moving, packed with great action and excellently acted by all but a few. It’s a simple revenge picture along the lines of adeath wish, a plot too palpable. The only appeal is to see Fawad Khan, Hamza Ali Abbassi and Mahira Khan on the screen to get a real payoff. The thundering songs by the maestros in the likes of Madam Noor Jehan, Inayat HussianBhatti,  Mehnaz and Alam Lohar rendered in the original Maula Jatt were missing which to many entrainment-thirsty audiences is quint essential. An item number by Saba Qamar or Humaima Malik would have surely added spice and helped the audience to soothe their eyes with some colour other than blood red.