He called its trailer ‘cringe-worthy’ and ‘trashy’.
19 Sep, 2026
The trailer for Hareem Farooq’s upcoming film Mango Jutt released on Wednesday and it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. One of the strongest rebukes came from filmmaker Ali Sajjad Shah — known in the industry as Abu Aleeha — who was, at one point, the director of the project.
In a story posted to his Instagram account on Friday, Shah called the trailer “cringe-worthy” and “trashy”. Speaking to Images, he said the film was even worse.
Images has reached out to Farooq for a comment, but had not received a response till the publication of this article.
The filmmaker said the film was his brainchild and that he had started working on it three and a half years ago. He said he wrote the script, cast the roles and brought Farooq onboard as both an actor and a co-producer. He said they wrapped up filming two and a half years ago and four months later he had locked the film’s edit too.
A post from Shamoon Abbasi — the film’s antagonist — made in May 2024 credits Shah as the film’s director and talks about filming having wrapped up.
That’s when, the filmmaker said, Farooq’s team suggested sending the film to be edited further in India. He said the final edit from India arrived a year later and was “very bad”.
He said his original story rested heavily on Ayesha Jehanzeb’s character and claimed the Indian edit cut “more than half of her scenes”. Maira Bangash, he said, received similar treatment.
Shah claimed he told the team he “did not accept this” and that there were “other issues” that arose during this time.
The filmmaker said this was also the time when the government of Punjab granted the team Rs30 million and so he was asked to shoot some more scenes to “justify the funding”. He said he refused outright, saying the opening scene they wanted was not feasible.
Shah said when the film was originally shot, Faysal Quraishi had gotten into shape for the role by building up muscle and growing a “very beautiful beard”. When the team asked to shoot again, Quraishi had changed his appearance for other projects.
The filmmaker said these disagreements led him to withdraw from the project, which continued on without him. He said he wouldn’t have brought up these grievances if Farooq hadn’t first.
On Thursday, journalist Ambreen Fatima posted a clip where she had asked Farooq why Shah’s name was not in the trailer’s credits. The actor laughed and said, “Whoever works [on the film] will have their name [in the credits].”
When pushed further, she said that she “can’t say too much” but that “a lot of things would come to light soon”.
