And finally, someone else is as stoked as we are about the upcoming Ali Abbas Zafar Superhero Movie. Just yesterday, I wrote about how the superhero movie is basically the first installment of the Desi Avengers. Now, there’s a rumor – via Pinkvilla –  the movie is up for a Netflix release. That’s a juicy headline, and the article has all the hallmarks of a very initial rumor (our sources, didn’t respond), so on and so forth.

There’s to unpack with this news.  That’s because the aforementioned movie should be a part of the Abbas Ali Zafar – ZEE collaboration, which includes the Mr. India movie. It’d be a wild day when ZEE and Netflix collaborate on a project. Or is ZEE really turning producer for Netflix? Or will the movie stream exclusively on ZEE5 and Netflix? There’s a lot of Bollywood dynamic to process here. I believe the rumor to be early talks. And if this works out, everyone comes out a winner. With the money Netflix has and the distribution ZEE has, this will be the platform that such a grand franchise requires.

This TOI interview finally did connect the dots and clarified that there’s a desi superhero universe in the making, and the Katrina Kaif movie as well as the Mr. India reboot is part of this universe. Along with that, Abbas has two other movies in line, one about a superhero with an army background and another with a superhero with an origin rooted in mythology. I called it out as the desi Avengers, let’s see when the mainstream media wakes up to that term.

Ali Abbas Zafar definitely has the chops to make a good superhero movie. With ZEE and Netflix in the mix, all of them could make a memorable superhero movie and an incredible franchise. I just hope they do.