Rahi vs Qureishi - Crossing The Border!

As the first poster of Maula Jutt 2 sees the light of the day, it’s pertinent to recall the duo that ruled the ‘80s, and literally saved Lollywood from collapse in the Zia regime!


Not only that, Rahi and Qureishi even captured and held the majority of Indian Punjabi cinema in abeyance for a long decade and a half. It came to a point that especially the Sikhs went berserk for the Rahi-Anjuman-Qureishi trio, and our Punjabi films earned from Indian Punjab cinemas. In this context, Nasir Adeeb, Yunus Malik, Ahmed Kamal Pasha, Altaf Hussain, M. Ashraf, Tafoo, Kamal Ahmed, Hasan Askari and other local contributors were much appreciated in Indian Punjab. It came to a pass that Indian Sikhs rooting for Khalistan, who were faced with Indian army’s attack on the Golden Temple, fell for the revolutionary dialogues of Nasir Adeeb, delivered with power and emphasis; those dialogues served as symbols for them. So, after the sudden rise of Maula Jutt in 1979, in context of the Zia vs Bhutto national symbology, this was the second time a stark symbol was fashioned, this time across the border, to a great effect!

This critical Sikh nationalism of the mid-‘80s came to a head, and the local makers, noticing the impact of their films, started including Sikh characters in their films, to seek big numbers on their box-office. Rahi, Mustafa Qureishi, Ghulam Mohyuddin, Iqbal Hasan and others played Sikh roles in those films, and the Pak Punjabi films earned big time from Indian Punjab. This, in turn, supported our makers, at a time, when the only circuit earning for Lollywood was our Punjab province, as Urdu cinema was sinking.

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