Malala biopic director still receives threat mails

New Delhi: Amjad Khan's upcoming directorial Gul Makai tells the story of Pakistani education activist and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. He says he has been getting many death threats but he never felt like dropping the project.

Khan agrees that the story of Malala is known to all but he is sure that few people know about her life before she was shot by the Taliban in 2012.

"This film portrays her earlier life and the spine-chilling incidents that she experienced when she was living in Swat," said Khan.

The UN had organised a Gul Makai screening in London about a year ago.

"It was overwhelming to see the biggies giving a standing ovation. They liked it so much that even during interval, no one left the seat. Each and every woman was crying."

The film is set to hit the screens on January 31. He feels it's the right time for a theatrical release. But making the film wasn't an easy task at all.

In the beginning of the project, a Bangladeshi student who was supposed to play Malala had to back out due to security reasons. Even the director got "death threats from so many fundamental groups from Pakistan".

"I never thought of backing out. I was worried about my artistes' security on set during the shooting in Kashmir. I still receive threat mails, abusive mails from unknown mail IDs," he said.