Mihir Ahuja as Jughead Jones, Yuvraj Menda as DIlton Doiley, Agastya Nanda as Archie Andrews, Suhana Khan as Veronica Lodge, Vedang Raina as Reggie Mantle, Suhana Khan as Veronica Lodge, Dot as Ethel Muggs in ‘The Archies’
| Photo Credit: Manpreet Singh/Netflix
In the jolly, apocalyptic, gradual burn (that is a cluster of opposite adjectives!) thriller Leave the World Behind, 13-year-old Rose talks of her love for the favored sitcom Friends as being a nostalgia for a time that by no means existed.
Watching Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies, which is speculated to be a nostalgic tribute for folks of a sure classic, begs the query of whose previous the movie celebrates. Archie Comics had been first printed in December 1941 in Pep Comics. The comics, set within the fictional city of Riverdale, informed the story of an archetypal American teenager, the red-headed, freckled Archie Andrews, and his mates.
The everlasting triangle
The central conceit of the comics was the love triangle between Archie, the darkish haired heiress Veronica, and the blonde woman subsequent door, Betty. Incidentally, was Jim Morrison considering of Betty and Veronica when he sang of the 2 younger ladies he bumped into — the blonde referred to as Freedom and the darkish one Enterprise?
Back to Archie’s gang, there is clean, suave Reggie, Jughead, who loves his meals and little else, Ethel who holds a candle ceaselessly for Jughead, Chuck the basketball star, nerdy Dilton, and Moose who was constructed like a truck however is not the sharpest pencil within the field.
An fanatic reads an ‘Archie’ comedian at Oxford Book Shop in Calcutta
Mr Weatherbee is the long-suffering principal of Riverdale High, and different academics embody Miss Grundy, Professor Flutesnoot, Coach Clayton, Miss Beazley, the gruff and horrible prepare dinner on the college cafeteria and Mr Svenson, the shy, thick-accented Swede, who is the custodian at Riverdale High.
Of the mother and father in Riverdale, Veronica’s father, Hiram Lodge, is consistently throwing Archie out, a dislike shared by the butler, Smithers. There are Riverdale spin-offs in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Katy Keene the style mannequin and Josie and the Pussycats, the rock band.
Reality bites
Archie’s issues are relatable to a sure sort of teenager. There was a time when the world of Archie appeared extra actual than one’s personal. It appeared fantastic to hang around at Pop Tate’s with mates planning the following day on the seashore or who to take to the dance as an alternative of worrying about cracking differential equations, dissections (solely somebody who has wept over not having the ability to isolate the eight creepy legs of a cockroach will know the heartache and escape supplied by Riverdale) or osmosis — all assured to get one right into a medical or engineering faculty, the Holy Grail of scholastic achievement.
The Archies’ template could be seen in Hollywood in teen rom-coms to at the present time — what is The Kissing Booth or the To All the Boys movie collection, however a gender-swapped model of The Archies? The collection Riverdale (2017 to 2023) re-imagined The Archies characters with Jughead (Cole Sprouse) because the angsty narrator. The first few seasons labored, however the latter seasons devolved into all method of silliness.
A nonetheless from ‘Riverdale’
Young hearts, run free
In the world of Hindi cinema, Raj Kapoor’s 1973 smash hit, Bobby, was apparently impressed by Archie comics. Dimple Kapadia’s costumes—the shorts, mini attire and the crop tops—reveal flashes of Betty and Veronica. The tussle between the nice woman, depraved vamp, and healthful boy has performed out advert nauseam in business cinema, which is in all probability why Akhtar selected not go down that street.
Forging a unique path
With Riverdale discovering a measure of success in turning every part on its head, peppering the present with serial killers, cult leaders, biker gangs and those that refuse to remain lifeless, Akhtar needed to strike a brand new path, which is troublesome contemplating The Archies is an adaptation. Choosing to go the interval route is okay, but when one can not determine whose reminiscences are being mined, then all of it turns into a fairly indifferent, stunning museum piece.
We should not asking for a deep and significant anthropological aspect to our popcorn; we’re simply asking for a fascinating story. We wholeheartedly cheered for Aamir Khan’s Sanjay in Mansoor Khan’s Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992) and hoped Ayesha Jhulka’s character would get him at the same time as we secretly hummed ‘Pehla Nasha’ seduced by the eye-wateringly stunning choreography—what a smashing debut by Farah Khan that was!
Aamir Khan and Ayesha Jhulka in ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’
In The Archies, the nepo infants solid sport period-appropriate costumes, which really feel exactly that — costumes, not garments. There is a self consciousness about every part from the units to the dialogue and the central battle. A keen suspension of disbelief is all very properly, however an viewers is canny in recognizing a scarcity of conviction, which The Archies has in spades.