Public Verdict on Mango Jutt Is In: Empty Theatres and Harsh Words for the Story and Editing

KARACHI: A film’s real test begins the moment it reaches cinemas, and for Mango Jutt that test has proved unforgiving. Hareem Farooq’s Punjabi production opened on October 16, but the first weekend brought a cold response. Most of the people who walked out of screenings did not walk out happy.

What audiences did not like

The complaints are strikingly similar from one viewer to the next. The story felt weak, the actors did not convince on screen, and the editing was so choppy that scenes never quite joined up. Some viewers went further and asked why such a film was made at all. The cast had promoted the release heavily, and Farooq had called it a film for all of Pakistan, but the publicity did not turn into weekend crowds.

Empty halls, old questions

Reports describe rows of empty seats at a number of cinemas. The film did not have an Eid weekend to carry it, which never helps, but the sparse halls revive a familiar question for Pakistani cinema: if filmmakers want audiences back, why do story and craft still get compromised? Director Abu Aleeha had already parted ways with the project before release over creative differences, and the public verdict gives that split a sharper edge. Farooq stars opposite Faysal Quraishi in the lead role.