- Tuesday, April 23, 2024
By: Mohnish Singh
Filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar, who is presently looking forward to the premiere of his maiden production venture Khaali Peeli, starring Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Panday, will soon commence work on his next directorial, which is a two-part superhero flick, featuring Katrina Kaif in the lead role.
Zafar is helming the untitled project for Netflix, which means it will not have a theatrical release. “Katrina’s film will be mounted on a huge scale and is fit for big-screen viewing. The budget is ₹200 crore (£2,08,34,740.00) for both the films combined. Ali Abbas Zafar approached several producers and studios to bankroll the project. But all of them found the venture to be financially unviable. They feared that it won’t find as many takers as they would require for the project to become profitable,” a source divulges.
The source goes on to add, “Ali was in no mood to shelve as he was very kicked about the project. Hence, with no other option in mind, he approached Netflix. The streaming giant showed interest and was more than happy to back the project.”
While Ali Abbas Zafar is ecstatic to have teamed up with Netflix, a trade official says, “Ali Abbas Zafar is a commercial director who makes pan-India, massy films. He is the only director besides Rajkumar Hirani who has two ₹300 crore (£3,12,75,321.90) grossers. It is shocking that someone like him could not get a producer on board. These studios have no issues blowing off ₹100 crore (£1,04,28,505.90) on films like Bombay Velvet (2015) and Rangoon (2017), both of which were backed by directors who make niche films. And then they refuse to fund Ali’s vision. Unbelievable!”
He goes on to add, “Agreed that female-centric films may not find an audience. But times have changed. Films like Raazi (2018) and Manikarnika – The Queen Of Jhansi (2019) were huge grossers. I am sure Ali’s Katrina Kaif film has enough masala and that it would have become a box office hit. Let’s not also forget that Katrina is also very popular and the casting would have also added to the hype.”
