Ali Abbas Zafar: ‘In talks with Katrina for an action film’

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Through his movies, Ali Abbas Zafar has given us memorable action heroes - be it a wrestler finding lost glory in Sultan (2016) or an unstoppable NCB officer in Bloody Daddy (2023). That makes us wonder what happened of the action heroine we were promised. In 2019, the director had announced a superhero film with Katrina Kaif. With Bade Miyan Chote Miyan having hit the marquee, will his next be Super Soldier with Kaif? "Super Soldier is not happening right now. I'm in talks with Katrina for an action film. I think she is an actor who aces action. There is a script we both like, and it will get made soon," says the director.

The genre often requires a big canvas and a lavish budget. Zafar points out that the film's math has to work out in an industry that is skeptical of going all out for women-led movies. Fortunately, the box-office success of Crew has dispelled some notions about all-women film's prospects. "Right now, the stakes for every action film are high. I know I will make that film. But I can't deny it is harder to make a female-led action movie. That said, a success like Crew makes it easier. The film doing big numbers is an encouraging sign for the makers. Every movie's mounting is directly proportional to the box-office numbers it is expected to generate. I don't agree with it entirely, but it is a business ultimately."

In the past few years, action has become Zafar's beat, making one forget that he had forayed into movies with the rom-com, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (2011). Why did he never explore the genre again? "I would love to make a rom-com, but I'm yet to get a script that will take me back to the genre. It seems I don't have a story like that within me anymore. Today romance is dying, or adapting in this social media era. One needs to feel romance to write it, and a lot of romantic films have worked because the writing was good. Mere Brother Ki Dulhan was made when we were naïve; it was an honest film about kids who were confused about matters of the heart."