‘The Archies’ movie review: Too basic, but the kids are all right

A nonetheless from ‘The Archies’

As Suhana Khan, daughter of Shah Rukh Khan, and Khushi Kapoor, daughter of producer Boney Kapoor, make their respective entries in Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies, the sunny opening quantity ‘Sunoh’ welcomes them in. In truth, in a supremely unsubtle gesture, the phrases ‘suhani’ and ‘khushi’ ring out on the observe. Did veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar give you this glowing concept, or was it his co-songwriter Dot? Either approach, it sends out a mistaken message. These kids have hardly set a foot into their first movie and are exerting an affect.

It was pleasantly stunning to be taught that Akhtar can be helming a live-action Indian adaptation of Archie Comics. If you grew up in the 80s and 90s — and frequented railway station bookstalls — you’ll be conversant in the unique comics and know the fundamental character varieties and premise. For anybody else, there’s 5 a long time of Hindi romantic cinema for reference. From Bobby to Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, our movies have all the time borrowed the Archie template (and temper board). The obsession has carried by means of into the current age; the two Student of the Year movies, for instance, or the visible design of Rohit Shetty’s hill station comedies.

Unfortunately, this makes issues slightly difficult for Akhtar and co-writers Reema Kagti and Ayesha Devitre Dhillon. They know audiences right here are all too conversant in the Archie setup, or not less than, the well-known love triangle at its coronary heart. They are too intelligent a bunch of creators to serve up one thing fundamental and bland. Yet, the platform they’ve partnered with, Netflix, already has Riverdale; it is sensible they might need their Indian Archie to feel and appear drastically completely different. Akhtar tries her finest to strike a steadiness, but fails. Akhtar’s movie feels nostalgic, idealistic…. simplistic.

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The Riverdale of this Archies adaptation is an idyllic hill station in 1960s India. It’s launched to us in loving phrases by Archie Andrews (Agastya Nanda), who’s 17 and fronts a band. His aircraft Jane neighbour, Betty Cooper (Khushi Kapoor), nurses a crush on him. While Archie is planning to start school in London — “What if Cliff Richard had never left Lucknow?” he asks his dad and mom — his ex, heiress Veronica Lodge (Suhana Khan), has simply returned from there. Veronica’s father, Hiram (Alyy Khan), has sinister plans to redevelop the city, changing its centrally-placed Green Park right into a luxurious resort. It’s the yr of Nehru’s dying, 1964, so it’s possible that capitalism is afoot.

We meet the different members of the Riverdale crew — Vedang Raina as Reggie, Mihir Ahuja as Jughead, Aditi ‘Dot’ Saigal as Ethel, Yuvraj Menda as Dilton, Rudra Mahuvarkar as Moose and Santana Roach as Midge. Somewhere between ending college, working part-time jobs, and conserving and shedding observe of the Archie-Ronnie-Betty ever-shifting romance, these kids will come of age and group as much as save Green Park. Akhtar threads collectively the story with a set of peppy musical numbers. She takes the American strategy, with dialogue and state of affairs spilling into music. There are no unapologetic ‘fantasy’ sequences right here in the strict Hindi movie sense. Though The Archies pays tribute to Shammi Kapoor and Mohammad Rafi, it’s slightly self-conscious of coming throughout as too Bollywood.

A nonetheless from ‘The Archies’

Some moments come alive by themselves, like the scene the place Archie and Betty cycle right down to Green Park at nightfall. The funniest gag — which arrives all too late — has a handcuffed Jughead being interrogated with a hoop of mouth-watering meals. The writers have transplanted the story to the experiences of the Anglo-Indian neighborhood in the 1960s. We get a mixture of accents, hairstyles and private histories. Archie’s grandfather, we be taught, stayed again after Independence and began a journey company, donating amply to charity. Reggie’s grandfather based a pro-Independence newspaper.

The kids are all right. Vedang Raina stands out as a good-looking, shiny-haired Reggie. Suhana Khan does a standard interpretation of Veronica (“It’s too early in the morning to get this foxy,” Archie tells her at one level). Agastya, an honest lead, delivers his strains in a hushed, far-off approach. It’s as if Archie is all the time non-committal about what he says or feels. Most efficient, nonetheless, is Kapoor’s unhappy, unvarnished efficiency. Betty’s soliloquies are splendidly melancholic (they are sung by Dot). Akhtar is aware of the way to throw a celebration in the supporting solid; Puja Sarup, Vinay Pathak, Suhaas Ahuja, Delnaaz Irani….

The Archies could make for a comfy Christmas watch, straightforward on the eyes and coronary heart. However, coming from a director like Akhtar, whose Gully Boy(2019) emitted a rare charge, brimming with slang and spunk and detail, it feels like a letdown. The film’s celebration of a bygone socialist-idealist ethos is held back by its all too immaculate design. The Andrews’ family Ambassador is a perfect shade of blue; a road trip appears to play out of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. There are few rough edges of note. This one’s a miss, but perhaps Zoyakins will surprise us next time.