Page 20 - Masala Lite Issue 157 January 2024

20 IN FOCUS

Zoya Akhtar, Director of The Archies (2023)
and more, on her craft.

BY NIMARTA NARANG

aving just watched The Archies (2023), a movie that almost looks like a
1960s fairytale, I realised that I was basically living in one as I made my
way to a New York City midtown hotel to meet the Zoya Akhtar to talk
about her new film. As I took the 25-minute walk during the infamous
NYC fall season, I reflected that this was a day I never saw coming and
didn’t even know that I could dream about. This was a woman who had directed so
many Hindi movie greats, spanning the bitingly-witty Luck by Chance (2009), the
Millennial anthem Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), the family-favourite Dil Dhadakne
Do (2015), and the fireworks-worthy Gully Boy (2019). She’d also directed the likes of
eminently-popular TV series, Made in Heaven (2019- ), whose second season released
this year. Zoya’s fifth directorial film, The Archies, debuted on Netflix on 9 November
2023, with a retro-themed marketing campaign that went viral on social media, and
with many praising its cheerful and colourful take on the iconic American comics.

“I love New York. The city always treats me well,” Akhtar told me as we sat together in
the restaurant lobby. Not to fall into the habitual need to comment on how women
public figures looked, but she seemed energetic and refreshed even after having just
arrived in the city. She tells me how she came to New York years ago to do a diploma
in film production, and claimed it was the best year of her life. She even edited Gully
Boy there in 2018.

It made sense to me, then, why her films always had a sense of adventure and journey
embedded into them. Akhtar shared that she had a very specific childhood with artist
parents who went through a divorce, and that she’d travelled the world from a very
young age. She paints an eloquent picture of the kind of background that led to her
becoming a die-hard fan of The Archies since she was young: “I grew up in an India that
wasn’t liberalised. The few things that we got from America when we were growing up
in the 80s were certain Hollywood films, and The Archies comics. They were a mainstay
for everybody.”

When asked about how she felt adapting a beloved IP that had such a huge fan base
across the world, she confides, “I like being excited. I also like being a little scared of
how I’m going to approach something. I always get nervous in the beginning, but I’m At this point in our conversation, a South Asian waiter interrupted our conversation
never nervous when I’m making a film. When I have to push an idea and sell it, I’m the to tell her that he’d sent a special gift to Zoya’s room as a token of appreciation. Zoya,
most confident person in the world.” When Netflix came to her with the project, they unfazed, graciously thanked him and seamlessly jumped back into our conversation. I
had asked her to do a ‘wholesome’ angle as the US had already done a contemporary, was astounded. It dawned on me that I was talking to one of the most prolific storytellers
darker version of Riverdale. “This is why India responded to the [wholesome] tone, in Hindi cinema, and she was giving me her full and undivided attention. Even across
because it had community, family, [and] friendship…it was innocent.” the world from our respective homes in Thailand and India, we were still Indophiles at
heart. And clearly, cinephiles.
For those who have watched The Archies by now, you will agree with me that the film is
absolutely gorgeous. The softer tones are reminiscent of a childhood where everything I asked her whether a project like this came at the right time during her career. “It came
was pure and exciting. It looks literally like a storybook that has come alive. “Everything at a time where everything [in film and TV] is so complicated. For example, I loved
that came back to me about the comics was the warm feeling it gave you. I thought, making Made in Heaven (2019- ) and Dahaad (2023), but they are adult narratives. This
why don’t we create something that feels like a loving hug?” is the first time we’re doing something for kids. And it’s very simple; which makes it
scary.” She explained that with this type of narrative, there aren’t the same high stakes
From then, she figured out the specifics of the film through research. She wanted to set or drama to grab audiences as easily, which was the challenge. “I needed something like
it in the 60s in a community that we haven’t seen much of in films – the Anglo-Indian this; a time when life was simple and it can be easy. When time can move by slowly.”
community that was mostly Christian, so that she could use the original character names.
What surprised her from her research was that a lot of people that she spoke to had It also helped that the newcomer actors she worked with for the film exuded so much
families that migrated to England but at heart they remained Indophiles. “They insisted, energy and enthusiasm that it made her feel like she was reliving her debut film experience
‘we’re Indian, we can’t just leave India behind!’” she recalls. “As for the aesthetics of again. The actors include Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan; the late Sridevi’s
the film, we used photographs of that period, and a mix of storybook aesthetics and daughter Khushi Kapoor; Amitabh Bachchan’s grandson Agastya Nanda; Vedang
comic-book framing.” Raina, Mihir Ahuja, Aditi Dot, and Yuvraj Menda.

I turn the conversation to her writing process in this and other films. “I try to sum up “I realised that you can work so much that you forget how lucky you are sometimes. It
in one phrase what each film is about,” she explains. “For example, for Luck by Chance, was the first film for all of them, and I remembered when that was my scene. When I
it was ‘self-esteem.’ For Gully Boy it was ‘class,’ for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara it was first wanted to be a director, and when I discovered that when I was directing, everything
‘carpe diem.’ Archies was about idealism, and everything lent itself to that – everything was amazing. The cast were contagious and infectious. I want to hold on to that feeling
is pretty, the values are correct.” Sharing the writing credits for this film’s story with that I’m lucky to do something I love.”

Reema Kagti; Zoya emphasises how important it is to have writers who share a value When I ask for final advice for aspiring filmmakers, she tells me, impassioned, “Write
system but bring different backgrounds to the table. “I’m an urban kid, and I grew up in your truth. Everyone tells me that I only do ‘feel good sh*t’ and I tell them, ‘I like feel-
a house full of artists, with liberal parents and great schools and colleges,” she reveals. good sh*t!’ Write what you want to read; make what you want to watch. Ultimately,
“Reema grew up in the Northeast of India, in a farm where not everything was accessible, filmmakers might keep going back to the same theme, but the battles will be different.
and her family structure was very different. We both come from different worlds, and When you write your truth, the story, plot, and characterisations will resonate, and
it makes the world we write all the richer for it.” the rest is just juice.”

MASAL A LITE ISSUE 157 - JANUARY 2024