As soon as December starts, there is a rush of feel good films on Netflix. These are such films in which there is no action, no adult content and no crying. The Archies is an Indian film that joins the crowd of those films. By the way, I remembered that the Hindi film industry, which is fighting with each other to release films on the occasion of Christmas, has not made any Christmas film till now. But Zoya Akhtar's The Archies can be called a perfect Christmas film.
Hollywood has been fascinated by the Archies for years. From Riverdale to Sabrina the Witch, many films inspired by this comic have been made so far. Will Zoya Akhtar be able to give justice to Veronica, Betty and Jughead of Archies in this film? There was great curiosity to know this, because till now the biggest question was whether we would be able to connect the characters whom we had seen and thought in American form since childhood, with Indian faces. But Zoya Akhtar easily makes us believe that Suhana Khan can be Veronica, Agastya Nanda can be Archie and Khushi Kapoor can be Betty Cooper.
Interest in celebrating festivals of Western culture has increased for some time. Be it prom night in school or college, Halloween party or Easter. Now celebrating such festivals in cities is considered a symbol of prestige and Zoya's The Archies is made for such people. The youth who like to watch movies with hot chocolate while sitting at home during the holidays, who are among the target audience of Netflix, are being entertained by Santa Claus, who charges a hefty fee every month under the name Netflix, and has given them an early Christmas gift with this film. . This film is a great entertainer for those interested in high school musicals.
Story
This is the story of 1960, in the North East of India, Anglo Indians (half British-half Indian), who consider themselves a part of this country, have built their own city. In this Riverdale, most people think and speak in English. There is also a green park in this city like America's Central Park, which is close to the hearts of the 8000 people living here. In this crowd of 8000 people, there are Archie (Agastya Nanda) who roams around with his heart in his hand, Betty (Khushi Kapoor) who is always ready to help everyone, Rich in both heart and money (Veronica) and their friends.
When Veronica's businessman dad (Ellie Khan) proposes to build a hotel on Green Park, how Archie and his friends save their park while fighting a big enemy. To know this you will have to watch Archies on Netflix.
Zoya, who made rich films like Dil Dhadakne Do, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, had proved that by making films like Gully Boy, she has proved that through films related to the common man, if she wants, she can also make such films which can be liked by the common man. Understand your story and see. But The Archies is a story which is like a beautiful dream for us. It has been created keeping in mind the thinking and preferences of the international audience.
This film of Zoya is like Indian food served in American restaurants, where the recipe has been made according to their taste. This film does not bore till the end. The dialogues of the film are funny. This film is different from Zoya's other films, but she has easily completed the challenge of making a 2 hour 20 minute film from an American cartoon. Songs, dance, love, comedy everything is there in this story. Instead of seeing it as an Indian film, see it as a global film made by an Indian team, then you will find everything right. But if you go looking for tradition, prestige and discipline in it, you will get stuck, because this is not a Bollywood film.
Small things have been taken care of in the screenplay of the film. Be it the Archies sitting in a foreign restaurant like Poppet, the decisions being taken in the City Council (which happens in small towns of Britain), the writers do not make any mistakes while giving justice to their story. In this story of Archies, Zoya has used creative liberty to show a city that we can fall in love with.
acting
Three star kids each have been launched together with this film, hence this film will be seen only by star kids and others like this. Suhana Khan has both Veronica's style and swag. Compared to other actors, Suhana's style, her dance, her expressions are amazing. Agastya Nanda has tried his best to give justice to the character of Archie, but those who know Archie will find that charm missing in Agastya. Agastya, like Archie, looks less like a mischievous person and more like a good boy. In the debut film itself, we get to see a lip lock between them (Archie-Veronica, Archie-Betty). Among other actors, the acting of Yuvraj Menda and Aditi Saigal wins hearts. Rest of the characters are also seen giving justice to their roles.
what are the flaws
The dances in the film could have been better. Zoya's musical drama, which gives a hook step like Galla Gudiyan, does not have a dance step which is memorable. Yuvraj Menda plays the role of Dilton in the film. His character represents LGBTQ. Many times, gay and transgender characters are used in Hindi films to show how free-thinking we are. In Archie, Dilton is straight but Zoya, who presented the other characters without any changes, has described Dilton as a part of LGBTQ in her film. Many times, while trying to prove how much we believe in gender equality, directors and writers forget that the LGBTQ community demands equal treatment and not special treatment.
This film is a film made for teenagers i.e. young audience. There will be a nostalgia for Archies fans around the world. A small story has been presented very simply but beautifully and in doing so, the tastes of the Netflix audience have been completely taken care of. Such films are not made for theatre. Because we Indians do movements like Chipko to save trees. But people who take steps like Chipko do not watch Netflix. Full marks to Zoya for delivering the product keeping in mind the audience's choices.
No comments:
Post a Comment