Lollywood Studio | Stories

Then there is the tale of Sultan Rahi , the long-haired, machine-gun-wielding icon of Punjabi cinema. Rahi was method before method was cool. During the shooting of Maula Jatt (1979), he refused to speak to the cast off-camera for three weeks because his character, the rustic outlaw, "had no friends." He slept in the stable on the lot (which was actually just a pile of hay near the carpentry shop) and only ate makhan (butter) and roti . On the final day of shooting the "iron club" fight scene, he accidentally knocked the villain’s tooth out. He picked it up, handed it to the actor, and whispered in his ear—still in character— "Keep it. A souvenir from the grave."

Lollywood — based in Lahore, particularly around the famous and later Mandar and Korangi Road studios — was once a thriving hub of South Asian cinema. While Bollywood gets the global spotlight, Lollywood’s studio culture was raw, resourceful, and full of unforgettable characters. Here are some real, useful, and entertaining stories from inside the studios. lollywood studio stories

" is a portmanteau of "Shah" (Shaukat) and "Noor" (Noor Jehan). Tragically, as part of their 1955 divorce settlement, Noor Jehan Then there is the tale of Sultan Rahi