The Archies review: Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor, Agastya Nanda just about do their part in Zoya Akhtar’s pastel world

The Archies movie review: If you are watching The Archies on Netflix this weekend, knowing just this one thing will ease your watching experience – everything about this 1964’s anglo, musical, pastel world is make-believe, right off the bat. They have funny accents, complete with hoenga and karenga, a postcard-esque hill-station setting in the middle of nowhere, named after its British founder, an obsession with London, Hinglish songs and musical numbers more suitable to the American palette. It is not the usual Bollywood offering, but it is also not the usual Bollywood story. 

To be fair, Zoya Akhtar, a master storyteller, who has given films like Gully Boy, Dil Dhadakne Do and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, does her best to Indianise The Archies as much as she can. One can even call it a brave attempt. She adds context to this anglo-Indian community living in Riverdale in an attempt to explain to us why the kids are called Veronica and Reggie and Betty and Jughead (imagine!) and Archibald and not Sonu and Pinky and Kumar. 

That, I suppose, is one of the good things. Because a Hindi iteration of British names is usually an affront to the ears. We can never forgive Gaurav Garuddwar (Godric Gryffindor), Maya Mehnatkash (Helga Hufflepuff), Chandrika Cheelghat (Rowena Ravenclaw) and Nagesh Nagshakti (Salazar Slytherin) from the Harry Potter movies now, can we? 

The movie revolves around The Archies gang – Archie Andrews (Agastya Nanda), Betty Cooper (Khushi Kapoor), Veronica Lodge (Suhana Khan), Reggie Mantle (Vedang Raina), Jughead (Mihir Ahuja), Dilton Doily (Yuvraj Menda), and Ethel Muggs (Dot) – who live in the idyllic Riverdale. The heart of Riverdale is Green Park, a green, lush area, where the citizens of Riverdale take their kids to plant a tree when they turn five. But the eyes of Hiram Lodge, played by Alyy Khan, are set on Green Park to build his luxurious hotel, but the kids will have none of it. So a clash – if you can call it that – naturally ensues. The most evil guy in the movie is Hiram Lodge, who is just a businessman doing his business, because in this world, everyone loves everyone, and everyone accepts everyone and everyone forgives everyone. All in all, it is just flat, and there’s no conflict. 

Akhtar spends most of the movie setting up the premise and context and relationships, as if she is not sure people will quite take it. This is the farthest Akhtar has gone to convince the audience of the setting, and yet the safest she has ever played it. The sensibilities do have the Zoya Akhtar touch but it gets lost in the already clearly-defined world of Archies Comics. It does not help that one is left wondering what was the point of the movie, after all. 

Coming to the star-kids, they are okay at the best. They don’t really shine through but their characters are flat too and not the most emotive. So yours truly would give them the benefit of doubt. Suhana Khan does appear to fit the bill of the rich diva, Veronica, as does Khushi Kapoor of the nice and kind Betty Cooper. Agastya Nanda is the happy-go-lucky Archie who is in love with both Veronica and Betty. The one person who does shine in the cohort is Vedang Raina, who will remind you of a young Ranveer Singh. 

The Archies apart from the young kids, does have an impressive supporting cast, including Alyy Khan, Koel Puri, Luke Kenny, Delnaaz Irani, Tara Sharma, Kamal Sidhu, Satyajit Sharma and Suhaas Ahuja.

To understand why The Archies is the way it is, one must have a bit of context and comparison. If you have been a fan of the comics, you might find a few delectable nuggets but it faces the danger of not really doing much for anyone else. The silver lining is that it is definitely miles ahead of the other rendition of Archies Comics on Netflix, Riverdale.

Also Read: 'Need to find ways to survive in my industry': At BT MPW 2023, filmmaker Zoya Akhtar speaks on creativity through female lens