Ahead of the release of the 2022-hit Pakistani film ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ in India on October 2, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday said the movie would not be released in Maharashtra and warned of action against theatre owners if they allowed its screening.
In a tweet in Marathi, Raj Thackeray said that while art has no borders, the same does not apply in the case of Pakistani actors working in India.
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“Pakistani actor Fawad Khan’s movie titled, ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ is going to be released in India soon. The MNS will not allow the movie to be released in Maharashtra under any circumstances. Why are films of Pakistani actors allowed to be released in India?” he said.
“And art has no borders, which is fine in other cases, but in the case of Pakistani actors, this will not work at all. Governments should not allow this film to be released in any state of the country, not just Maharashtra,” he added.
Warning of action against theatre owners if they went ahead with the film’s screening despite MNS’s warning, Raj Thackeray said, “Everyone will remember what MNS did when such incidents happened before. Therefore, theatre owners are now humbly requested not to fall into the predicament of screening films.”
The MNS chief said his party did not want any conflict to happen in Maharashtra, especially with the Navratri festivities approaching.
“Navratri festival will start around the time when this film will be released. I don’t want any conflict to happen in Maharashtra. The same will not be the desire of the Chief Minister, Home Minister and Director General of Police of the state. And we don’t want any conflict,” he tweeted.
‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’, which stars Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan, was released in Pakistan in 2022 and it became a hit. Upon its release, the film clocked over Rs 400 crore at the global box office. It is a remake of the 1979 cult classic ‘Maula Jatt’.
The film is being released in India by Zee Studios in collaboration with ‘Zindagi’. It would be the first Pakistani movie to be released in India in 13 years since ‘Bol’, which starred Atif Aslam and Humaima Malick, was released in 2011.
Pakistani artists were banned from working in India following the 2016 Uri terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. In November last year, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking a complete ban on Pakistani artists from working in India.
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