Q&A WITH ALI ABBAS ZAFAR

He has followed up a poignant and sensitive movie on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots with a pulsating sleek action thriller. Although markedly different from each other, both explore violence, machismo, and heroism in their own unique ways. We talk to Ali Abbas Zafar, one of the most successful filmmakers in Bollywood today, about the evolution of mass cinema

- Ananya Ghosh

With tentpole movies like Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (2011), Gunday (2014), Sultan (2016), Tiger Zinda Hai (2017), and Bharat (2019), Ali Abbas Zafar is one of the most successful filmmakers in Bollywood today. But in his last three outings, the filmmaker, known for his mega-budget theatrical releases, has gone the OTT way, and changed the game. In fact, his first OTT outing was the 2021 web series, Tandav — a valiant attempt at a hard-hitting take on the socio-political realities of present-day India that ruffled quite a few feathers, to say the least. His next was Jogi, a nuanced and poignant tale of humanity and friendship that unfolds at the backdrop of the three-day brutal massacre of the Sikhs, which started in Delhi post the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984. The movie with its stark but sensitive depiction of communal violence saw a direct-to-OTT release in September last year. The OTT release ensured a more discerning audience that was not just limited to India. But with Bloody Daddy, Zafar has dropped an out-and-out mass entertainer, replete with drugs, guns, gangsters, and high-octane action sequences, into the OTT space.

“From day one, I was clear that this was an OTT film. I wanted this to become a benchmark on how much we can scale up a direct-to-OTT film. We didn’t want to compromise on the creative aspect of the film. A lot of people told me that Bloody