The trailer for the highly anticipated movie The Legend of Maula Jatt has gained a lot of attention in the past few days. With its ensemble cast, mesmerizing set, and its insane trailer, it’s bound to be a blockbuster. However, it hasn’t been the easiest journey for the makers of the movie.

The makers of The Legend of Maula Jatt have been hit with legal issues since the beginning of production.

It all started during the production of the new movie last year. Sarwar Bhatti, producer of the original 1979 film claimed that the producers don’t own the rights to use the name, characters, and music of the original film. As a consequence, a legal notice was served to the director Bilal Lashari, the producer Ammara Hikmat, as well as the main cast.

The matter was resolved when the Intellectual Property Tribunal rejected his claims. As per the notice, the law dictates that anything which is not a reproduction of the material contained in 1979 Maula Jatt CDs, will not amount to copyright infringement in any manner as submitted by the Intellectual Property Counsel.

Sarwar Bhatti’s son, Muttaqi S Ali, took to Facebook to express his views on the matter.

Muttaqi claims that the Intellectual Property Tribunal did not give Bilal Lashari and his team permission to use the words ‘Maula Jatt’ together in the title of the movie.

Muttaqi further tried to drag in Bilal Lashari’s retired bureaucrat father into the debate, accusing him bypassing the legal system.

He didn’t stop there, he went on explaining the amount of love and hard work his father put into Maula Jatt and all of the hardships he faced along the way.

“We’ll send you to jail. I want the people around the world to unitedly raise their voice against tyranny and oppression to achieve the ultimate peace and prosperity” says Muttaqi.

Many other films have been made throughout the years using ‘Maula Jatt’ in the title such as Jatt in London, Maula Jatt Te Noori Natt,  and Shagird Maula Jatt Da and no copyright notices were given.

Ammara Hikmat of Encyclomedia, the producer of The Legend of Maula Jatt, has also come on to social media to set the record straight in a very subtle retweet.

On behalf of my client @AmmaraHikmat, I have served Sarwar Bhatti & aides, with a legal notice for spreading inaccurate facts, and misleading view, based on perverse/wrong understanding of the law of copyright and trademark, with respect to their movie #TheLegendofMaulaJatt pic.twitter.com/N7GgOnEdVo

— Pansota (@Pansota1) December 25, 2018

Ammara has filed a complaint against Sarwar Bhatti and his son for defamation through the manipulation of truth and incitement.

In his Facebook post, Muttaqi claimed that the characters, as well as the dialogues of the movie, resemble the original movie.  However, it was Nasir Adib who created the original characters for Wehshi Jatt in 1975 before Maula Jatt was created. Nasir Adib has taken the role of screenwriter for The Legend of Maula Jatt and holds rights over the characters.

Well….*sips tea*

What do you think about this whole spectacle? Is Sarwar Bhatti right to file a case against the new movie’s team? Let us know in the comments below.

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cover image source: Encyclomedia & Lashari Films