Zoya Akhtar on The Archies’s trailer: ‘It gives a little taste of the story, plot and drama’

Moments after showing the dreamy ‘Riverdale’ town, the trailer throws up an existential question with one of the teenagers wondering what they are doing with their lives. “That’s the graph of the characters — they start at a certain place and through the film they have a certain growth. The trailer gives a little taste of the story, plot and drama,” says Akhtar.

This, of course, is just a peek into what’s going on with these teen characters’ minds. A lot of actions will unfold in the course of the 2.14-hour movie, adds the director.

The trailer features two of the movie’s songs, ‘Sunoh’ and ‘Va Va Voom’ that captures the ‘60s rock-and-roll feel. “There is a lot of music in the film. The film is set in a certain era. So obviously all the songs are not rock and roll. Each one has a different tempo. I enjoyed being part of the process of creating these songs and shooting them,” Akhtar shares.

 

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‘Va Va Voom’ is composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, written by Javed Akhtar and sung by Tejas Menon. ‘Sunoh,’ created by Ankur Tewari and The Islanders. While working on the movie, one of the concerns that Akhtar and Reema Kagti had was how it would appeal to the younger generation.

“The new generation of viewers, who don’t know anything about Archies, would get the feeling that they are in a fictional town,” says Akhtar. They also wondered what they should do thematically that can resonate with the youngsters today. The trailer shows the group of friends, played by Agastya Nanda, Khushi Kapoor, Mihir Ahuja, Suhana Khan, Vedang Raina, Yuvraj Menda and Dot, fighting to protect a park in Riverdale.

Kagti says that with The Archies, they are reaching out to a wider section of the audience — from the age group of 8 to 80 — for the first time. “We were going back to a time when less was more. Today, people don’t know a world without mobile phones and social media. None of these existed then. Hoping that the young audience will connect to it,” says Kagti.

The Archies, an Indian Adaptation of Archies Comics, is a collaborative effort between Netflix India, Tiger Baby (founded by Kagti and Akhtar), Archie Comics, and Graphic India. The film releases on Netflix worldwide on December 7, 2023.