Netflix Unveils Trailer, Release Date for Abhay Deol Movie ‘What Are the Odds?’

Netflix has acquired What Are the Odds?, a coming-of-age comedy-drama movie starring Yashaswini Dayama (Dear Zindagi), Karanvir Malhotra (Selection Day), and Abhay Deol (Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara) in the lead. Deol is also a producer. Alongside, Netflix has unveiled a release date — May 20 — and a trailer for What Are the Odds?, which suggests John Hughes meets a fluffier The End of the F*ing World. What Are the Odds? has been directed by Megha Ramaswamy, best known for co-writing the 2011 black comedy crime film Shaitan.

What Are the Odds? trailer

In addition to Dayama, Malhotra, and Deol, What Are the Odds? also stars Monica Dogra (David), Priyanka Bose (Lion), Sulabha Arya (Hera Pheri), and Manu Rishi (Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!). Deol isn't the only producer on What Are the Odds?; he served in the role alongside Sanjay Bachani, Pooja Kohli, and Apoorva Bakshi of FilmKaravan. In fact, What Are the Odds? is being called a “FilmKaravan Original”, and not a “Netflix Original”. This is the second collaboration for Netflix and FilmKaravan after last year's police procedural anthology, Delhi Crime — which was a Netflix original.

What Are the Odds? was originally envisioned as a series called The Odds that would follow rebellious teen Vivek (Dayama) and responsible school head boy Ashwin (Malhotra) as they went on “a fantastical journey” through the streets of Mumbai. A 90-minute excerpt was shown at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles in March last year, when it was still in production. But the series plan has seemingly been shelved, and the excerpt reimagined as a feature-length version now coming to Netflix.

Netflix has a mediocre to terrible record with Indian films. In 2020, it's given us the horror anthology Ghost Stories from directors Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Karan Johar, and Anurag Kashyap in January, the dance drama Yeh Ballet from writer-director Sooni Taraporevala in February, the Kiara Advani-starrer, Johar-produced college rape drama Guilty and the coming-of-age rom-com Maska featuring Manisha Koirala in March, and the Jacqueline Fernandez-led mystery thriller Mrs. Serial Killer.

What Are the Odds? synopsis

“When two unlikely friends play hooky from school, accidental encounters and otherworldly events turn their day into a whimsical coming-of-age journey.”

What Are the Odds? release date

What Are the Odds? is out May 20 on Netflix worldwide.

Can Netflix force Bollywood to reinvent itself? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS. You can also download the episode or just hit the play button below.