Abbas-Mustan’s foray into digital entertainment seems to be having as many twists as their thrillers do. In March 2021, the director duo’s maiden web film, tentatively titled Penthouse, was announced as a Netflix original. However, in July 2022, it was reported that the OTT giant had dropped the Bobby Deol, Arjun Rampal and Sharman Joshi-starrer from its slate of upcoming content (Bobby Deol, Arjun Rampal and Sharman Joshi’s Penthouse to be scrapped, July 2). A year-and-a-half later, there is a new plot twist. It is heard that the murder mystery’s makers are now in talks with Jio Cinema.

Penthouse—also starring Tisca Chopra, Mouni Roy and Cyrus Broacha—is an adaptation of the 2014 Hollywood movie, The Loft, which in turn was a remake of Belgian film Loft (2008). The crime thrillers revolved around five married men, who jointly own a penthouse in the city where they meet their mistresses. However, things turn ugly when a woman is discovered dead in the loft.

A source reveals, “Thrillers are Abbas-Mustan’s forte, and in the same vein, the Bobby and Arjun-starrer has been designed as a slick murder mystery. The producers have initiated talks with Jio Cinema. There is interest around the project since it is the director duo’s maiden OTT film.”

It was said that Penthouse had gone on floors as early as November 2020 and was wrapped up by 2021. Has the film been lying in the cans since then? Abbas Burmawalla rubbishes the rumours, saying, “People assumed we completed the film by 2021. But the truth is, we only began shooting from 2022 while post-production went on till this year. We had put up a huge set in 2020 [in Goregaon], but we had to dismantle it during the pandemic. We finally got to shooting only when the pandemic was over.”

Quiz him on the chatter that the murder mystery is headed to Jio Cinema, and the director says, “We have delivered the final product to the producers. We’ve heard that they took the rights back from Netflix, and are in talks with Jio Cinema currently. Now, it’s up to them when they want to release the film.”