Dawn Images

Bilal Lashari and Ammara Hikmat’s The Legend of Maula Jatt has caused a lot of hubbub amongst cinema-goers and the entertainment fraternity, first for the quality of the film and the second for only screening at some cinemas, notably not at cinema chains Cinepax and Nueplex. Taking that into account, actor Syed Jibran called it a “deadlock” and said the distributor’s demand to increase ticket prices for a larger share was “very unwise” and a bad step.

The Ghabrana Nahi Hai actor took to Twitter on Friday and wrote that the deadlock happening at the moment for The Legend of Maula Jatt is between distributor Nadeem Mandviwalla and officials of Cinepax cinemas and Nueplex.

Jibran suggested that instead of increasing the price, it should’ve been reduced to Rs800 instead of Rs1,200 or more so that revenues “go through the roof”.

“Increasing the ticket price they are just decreasing the repeat customers. It’s shortsightedness. Plain and simple. This will badly damage the reputation as well as a chance to create a historic box office first day score for the film,” he reasoned.

The actor added that of 122 screens in Pakistan almost 50 of the main multiplex screens have not yet released any schedule for The Legend of Maula Jatt a day after the film’s release, which he called “the most important trend setting first day of the film”.

He called it a bad decision on the distributor’s part and demanded that the problem be resolved as soon as possible otherwise no one else could be blamed for the “underperformance of probably the greatest film of Pakistan ever made” other than ourselves.

Currently, the film is being screened at six theatres in Lahore — Cue, Chalo, Gulistan, Shabistan, Prince and Universal cinemas. It is being screen at two cinemas in Gujranwala, Opera and Prince cinemas, two in Multan, Universal and Dreamland cinemas, two in Sialkot, Opera and Parwana cinemas, Islamabad’s Centaurus Cineplex, Gujrat’s Faisal Cinemas, Sargodha’s IMGC Multiplex and in Mandi Bahauddin. It is also only being screened at Atrium Cinemas in Karachi.

Karachi’s The Arena Cinemas issued on Friday a statement on their Instagram account in which they apologised for the delay and blamed it on the distributors. “We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience faced due to potential increase in the ticket price of The Legend of Maula jatt. The issue is coming from the distributors of the movie.”

They assured followers that through negotiations between the distributor and cinema, they will get back to everyone with “good news” soon.

The film stars Fawad Khan as Maula Jatt, Hamza Ali Abbasi as Noori Natt, Humaima Mallick as Daaro Nattni, Mahira Khan as Mukkho Jatti , Gohar Rasheed as Maakha Natt, Ali Azmat as Gogi and Faris Shafi as Mooda.