The Legend of Maula Jatt

Bilal Lashari's 2022 Pakistani film is a remake of a Punjabi classic made in the seventies. Maula Jatt wants a reckoning for something in his past, and facing him is Noori Natt, the most feared warrior in the region. The film keeps the heightened language of the original. The speeches take the form of challenges and the fights have the air of ritual; the narrative attempts no realism and builds a legend. Fawad Khan and Hamza Ali Abbasi lead. The production was counted among the most expensive ever made in Pakistani cinema and broke box office records; its technical scale is spoken of as a threshold for the country's films. Who it's for: those curious about action epics and Punjabi cinema. Who it's not for: viewers expecting restrained violence; the film stages its fights bloody and long.