After the success of the Shaan-starrer Waar, Operation 021 was expected to perform even better at the box office. However, the movie was taken off the screens at three of the oldest Pakistani cinemas, in between the first show, as the audience booed and threw bottles at the cinema screen.

In response, the movie was taken down unexpectedly earlier at Capri and Bambino Cinema in Karachi and Dreamland Cinema in Multan. The Operation 021 production crew, distressed by this action, decided to speak about it at the Karachi Press Club.

They believe that the movie should had been given a chance for a couple of shows and only after the situation had been discussed with the producers and Distribution Club,the decision should have been taken with the consent of  the distributors of the film.

As the movie has been taken down without due notice, distributors are planning to take legal action against the cinemas. They believe that the incident not only harmed the movie’s earnings but also disreputed them as a distribution company. 

Adeel Siddiqui, owner of Bambino cinema, had earlier claimed that their first priority is to cater to the demands of the audience and if they do not like a particular movie, then the cinemas doesn’t see any point in screening it. He denies the Distribution Club’s claims of not informing them.

The owners of the cinemas were also accused of giving Indian movies like Bang Bang preference over the hard work of Pakistani artists. The accusations were dispelled by Mr.Siddiqui saying that Na Maloom Afraad, another Pakistani movie, is still on show since Eid. 

The co-director of the movie Operation 021 questioned the bad reviews of the movie by saying, “If people say that our film is not up to the mark then how come it’s doing brilliant business in other cinemas across the country.”

While the hero of movie, Shaan, claimed the movie  has grossed over Rs.57.5 million in its first week, the distributor of the movie has other claims stating the total grossed to only Rs. 32.5 million. 

The co-producer of the movie, Azaan Sami Khan, son of Zeba Bakhtiar, feels discouraged and says that such events are the reason why most of our good artists resort to other countries for work and progress. He further claimed that the much pointed out language disparity as the reason for the failure of the movie had no substance to it, since all languages used in the movie were Pakistani languages.