The Archies movie review: Suhana Khan grows on you, Khushi Kapoor packs verve – The Indian Express
In Riverdale, a small sylvan Indian city with a big Anglo-Indian neighborhood, everybody is aware of everybody. It’s 1964, a time of innocence, a time of confidences. Clear-faced youngsters flit about doing teenager stuff, strumming guitars within the high-school band, making eyes and flirting and courting — the handsome Archie Andrews, the beautiful Betty Cooper, the sassy Veronica Lodge, the always-hungry Jughead Jones, the cocky Reggie Mantle, the likeable however boring Moose, the wise Ethel — because the adults, together with the beloved Pop Tate who runs the cafeteria with its large burgers and tall shakes, go about their enterprise.
This model new Netflix iteration of the Archie comics, which started printing within the US in 1941, and held such sway in choose city Indian pockets within the 70s and 80s, was at all times going to be judged on one depend. Will this recent solid, headlined by Agastya Nanda as Archie, Khushi Kapoor as Betty, and Suhana Khan as Veronica, will be capable to pull off these madly standard characters?
For the virulent anti-Bollywood gang, this trio is nothing however Nepotism Central. I’m right here to say that these children aren’t horrible. If I had to decide on, I’d say Khushi has extra verve than each Agastya and Suhana, however I will even say that the latter did develop on me: she has her father’s dimple, and he or she did handle the arched eyebrow, haughty-miss expression just a few occasions.
And the others are simply superb, particularly the bright-as-a-tack Dilton (Yuvraj Menda) who represents the sort of boy who likes different boys, Mihir Ahuja as Archies’s loyal pal, and Vedang Raina as Reggie who’s too-smart-by-half however stays relatable. I additionally favored that not one of the children is singled out for particular therapy; all of them get to share display screen area equitably.
As readers who devoured these comics so excessive on all-American values, we all know that it’s easy-paced nostalgia of that period that Zoya Akhtar goes for, and the movie does get in a few of that feeling it its selection of attire and hair-styles: skirts and pixie bob-cuts and high-waisted pants. And coming-of-age tales by no means get outdated: keep in mind how we scoffed on the ‘high-school’ that Karan Johar’s self-confessed Archies-Riverdale prototype created in his ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, and but fell for the combo, as a result of who may resist the high-wattage appeal of SRK as Archie, Kajol as Betty and Rani as Veronica although they appeared manner older than youngsters, and although they have been horribly politically incorrect even on the time?
The opposite factor that the movie will get proper is in the way in which it appears to be like, which isn’t a shock coming from Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti and co, whose manufacturing values are at all times top-notch. The lavish Lodge residence, by which Aly Khan performs the massive businessman with a watch on the inexperienced lung of Riverdale, the sprawling, leafy Inexperienced Park, the brown book-shop, the newspaper workplace, the hair-dressers, are all spot on. The difficult steadiness between the comic-book side, and the real-life really feel is correct.
ALSO READ | Meet Archie and Gang: Historical past of the all-American comedian e book, now a Netflix movie
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However what isn’t, is the movie itself. Solely a few songs stand out: the opening one has actual lilt. The plot does give us a way of the world on the time — a sit-in on the beloved Inexperienced Park which the townspeople try to avoid wasting from grasping capitalists foreshadows the Woodstock protest, the native newspaper stands up for the correct of free expression, same-sex love is hinted at, and a tune goes ‘Every little thing Is Political’ — however total, the writing isn’t perky sufficient.
The children, although, are all proper.
The Archies film solid: Agastya Nanda, Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor, Vedang Raina, Mihir Ahuja, Yuvraj Menda, Aditi ‘Dot’ Saigal, Vinay Pathak, Aly Khan, Koel Purie, Tara Sharma
The Archies film director: Zoya Akhtar
The Archies film ranking: 2.5 stars
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