Pakistani stars Faysal Quraishi and Hareem Farooq have raised the alarm over what they describe as a coordinated, paid campaign of negative publicity targeting their Punjabi-language film Mango Jutt. In an Instagram video and follow-up remarks, the two actors warned that manufactured online negativity could damage not only their film but Pakistan’s already struggling cinema industry — reigniting a familiar showbiz debate: where does honest criticism end and paid propaganda begin?
What Faysal Quraishi Said in His Instagram Video
Quraishi took direct aim at the flood of negative reviews that appeared almost immediately after Mango Jutt hit cinemas. In his video message, he questioned the timing and intent of reviewers who posted harsh verdicts the very next day after release — without, he argued, having properly watched the film.
He drew a contrast with serious film critics, who he said typically wait for the opening weekend — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — to pass before writing their reviews. Reviews “pouring in from the next day,” he suggested, bear the fingerprints of paid propaganda rather than genuine opinion. While accepting that mixed reviews and differences in taste are a natural part of cinema, he maintained that audiences — not online campaigns — should decide a film’s commercial fate.
His sharpest words were for those behind such campaigns. Asking how many people get harmed while others pursue their own gains, he said that negative narratives are “fed” to people who then repeat them. “Paid propaganda against anything, whether it’s a drama or a film, causes loss to the industry,” he said, adding pointedly: “We [already] have a very small industry.” He also noted the financial side of the equation — misleading online narratives, he argued, shake the confidence of families deciding whether cinema tickets are worth the money.
Hareem Farooq Responds to the Trolling
Hareem Farooq, who produced Mango Jutt and also plays its leading lady, has likewise addressed the online backlash around the film. According to showbiz reports, she responded to the trolling directed at Mango Jutt and remarked that she never reads the comments — a telling comment on how vicious online discourse around local films has become.
Farooq has more riding on this film than most. Producing a commercial entertainer while headlining it is a double burden, and she spent months promoting Mango Jutt across cities and university campuses, appearing alongside Quraishi at promotional events. For a female producer putting her name and money behind a Punjabi-language commercial film, the stakes of a manufactured hate campaign are personal as well as financial.
Mango Jutt’s Rocky Road to Cinemas
Mango Jutt is a Punjabi-language family entertainer built around an old-fashioned commercial formula: action, comedy, romance and family drama. Quraishi plays Murad, a man left looking after his three mischievous children while getting pulled into a dangerous situation connected to his late brother-in-law’s business. Farooq plays Jahan Ara, the children’s teacher, who is trying to escape a violent suitor. The supporting cast adds comic relief in the classic Punjabi-cinema tradition.
The road to release was anything but smooth. The film was directed by Abu Aleeha, who parted ways with the project before its release over creative differences. It eventually reached cinemas in October on a non-Eid weekend — always a tougher slot for local films — after a heavy promotional push by the cast.
Early audience reactions have been mixed. Viewers who watched the film praised the lead performances — particularly Quraishi’s return to Punjabi commercial cinema and Farooq’s confident screen presence — but criticised the story and the choppy editing. Several reports also noted largely empty theaters in the opening days, a worrying sign for any local release.
The Bigger Picture: Pakistan’s Struggling Cinemas
The Mango Jutt controversy has landed at a fragile moment for Pakistani cinema. With only a handful of local films releasing each year and audiences still slow to return to theaters, every release is a gamble — and filmmakers say that gamble gets harder when online narratives are weaponised.
Quraishi’s core argument is an economic one: when a family is deciding whether to spend a significant amount on cinema tickets, a flood of manufactured negativity can kill a film before genuine word of mouth ever gets a chance. Whether or not an organised paid campaign truly exists in this case, the episode has thrown a spotlight on how quickly — and how anonymously — reputations are now made and broken online, and what that means for an industry trying to rebuild itself one release at a time.
For now, the Mango Jutt team is standing its ground with a simple message: watch the film first, then judge. The audience, as Quraishi put it, should have the final word.
Sources: 99 News — report on Faysal Quraishi’s Instagram video; Reviewit — public verdict on Mango Jutt’s release
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