Zoya Akhtar calls The Archies a simple ‘young-adult’ feel good story: “We needed to have a strong story and package it in nostalgia and innocence’ : Bollywood News

Netflix India on Thursday launched the trailer of The Archies, a Zoya Akhtar spectacle produced by Tiger Baby, Graphic India, and Archie Comics, that transports the audience to the whimsical world of 1960s Riverdale, India. The trailer unfolds a musical narrative steering through the retro alleys of love, friendship, and youthful aspirations. The film introduces several new faces including Suhana Khan, Agastya Nanda, Khushi Kapoor, Yuvraj Menda, Mihir Ahuja, Dot and Vedang Raina. Zoya Akhtar talked about the 60s era and the rebellion, peace and love that it represented.

Zoya Akhtar calls The Archies a simple ‘young-adult’ feel good story: “We needed to have a strong story and package it in nostalgia and innocence’

“The ’60s were the time when there was a peace movement, a revolution that happened, and all the Bob Dylan… There was an idealism that we will make the world a better place. That was the era where they believed that they could change the world. There was a bit of rebellion, peace and love. It was also the era of rock ‘n’ roll. So, that whole feeling of that era is what we wanted to bring in. It is a simple young-adult feel-good story,” Zoya Akhtar told PTI in an interview.

Zoya said that the story packs a lot of innocence and nostalgia. “We are the Archie generation and it resonates with us, and people who have read Archies will come in because they love the comic but there are kids today who do not love the comic… We needed to have a strong story and package it in nostalgia and innocence,” she said.

Reema Kagti, who wrote the screenplay with Zoya Akhtar and Ayesha Devitre Dhillon, added, “There are a lot of people who don’t know who Archie is or they don’t read Archies anymore… To our generation, it was a different thing. At a time when there was no mobile or TV or OTT, Archie had a different meaning. We are fans (so) you don’t want to mess it up and do injustice to something that you have loved and revered. We had to do the film in a way that it is relevant to everybody.”

The Archies is releasing on Netflix on December 7, 2023.