Director Zoya Akhtar transplants the characters of the classic comic series into an Anglo-Indian Riverdale with The Archies.
Is that Archie belting out a love song in Hindi, and Jughead salivating over pork vindaloo? Could Betty and Veronica be actual besties, not frenemies? Welcome to Zoya Akhtar’s Riverdale.
If you grew up in India in the 1970s and 80s, Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, and Veronica Lodge weren’t just characters — they were friends. Discovering Archie comics was a rite of passage for Gen Xers and Millennials from Bombay to Bhubaneswar, and Akhtar, one of India’s most acclaimed writer-directors, was no exception. “Archie was a huge part of my childhood and my go-to escape,” she remembers. Born into one of India’s most iconic film families, Akhtar is now a master of the craft herself, known today for an oeuvre of slick films and series that shine a light on the lives and aspirations of twenty- and thirtysomethings in modern India. Her work includes Gully Boy, which follows a rapper from the Mumbai slums, and Made in Heaven, which shows the darker side of the ultra-extravagant weddings of Delhi’s elite.
So when Netflix came knocking to ask Akhtar, a self-proclaimed Archiehead, to bring Archie and the gang to 1960s India in The Archies, a sweet period teen movie, it was certainly a departure — and a refreshing challenge. Together with her longtime collaborator Reema Kagti and first-time writing partner Ayesha Devitre Dhillon, she reimagined Riverdale as an Indian hill station and set the shenanigans within the country’s Anglo-Indian community. “This film is my way to take you to my Riverdale and share some of that lost innocence and idealism with you,” she said at the film’s New York premiere.
The Archies has been surrounded by buzz ever since it was first announced, not only because of its nostalgia, but also thanks to a casting coup. The central love triangle may feature a trio of debut actors, but they come with some serious superstar acting pedigree: Agastya Nanda is Amitabh Bachchan’s grandson, Suhana Khan is Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter, and Khushi Kapoor is Sridevi’s daughter. But under Akhtar’s direction, the three embody Archie, Veronica, and Betty effortlessly. Even without Archie’s signature red hair, and with the comics’ inherent Americana being traded in for history lessons on post-colonial India, Akhtar’s frothy adaptation clicks. Akhtar sat down with Queue in New York to talk about how she hopes to give audiences a “warm hug” through The Archies.
Archie Andrews (Agastya Nanda) and Jughead Jones (Mihir Ahuja)
Sarah Khan: When did you first discover Archie comics?
Zoya Akhtar: I don’t remember life without them. I would cycle to the library at Hill Road, rent Archie comics, come back home, and sit in a corner with my head buried in it, being transported. They were our portal to the West. It was the only thing American we had access to, besides films. When you’re a kid you aspire to be a teenager and have that gang of friends and drink that milkshake in a café. It was warm. It was fun. And those are all the things that I wanted to capture with this film.
Do kids in India today still love Archie comics?
ZA: I don’t think it has the same resonance. Now you have so much in terms of things to watch, things to read, games to play — there’s just too much going on. We didn’t have any of that. We didn’t even have TV, just two hours of programming on a Sunday. Enid Blyton and Archie comics, that was it! So my generation is super excited. For us, it was like our world.
How do you strike a balance between appealing to both the older fans as well as younger viewers who are just discovering the magic of Riverdale?
ZA: It has to be packaged in nostalgia: that time when we had fewer things and seemed happier, when life was slow and everything wasn’t so hectic. But we have to be very clever and have things that resonate with Gen Z. Friendship, community, love, heartbreak — those things go across generations.
Betty Cooper (Khushi Kapoor) and Archie Andrews (Agastya Nanda)
I just watched it with my niece and nephew, who I’ve been trying to get into Hindi movies, and they really enjoyed it.
ZA: Did they like it? See, that’s what I want!
Yes, and it was so nice to have something wholesome that we could watch together.
ZA: I think the world could do with something simple right now. And suddenly to have something to make for kids — I’ve never done that. That was challenging, it was exciting, and it was fun!
So how did this wild idea of bringing Archie and the gang to India actually come about? At what moment were you like, I need to do this?
ZA: It was offered to me and I was like, “Whaaat? Let me figure out how to crack this, and if I can crack it, I will come back to you and say yes.” Then Reema and I sat on it and said, “What are we going to do?” And we figured out: We’d put it in the Anglo-Indian community that exists, that’s robust, that’s not seen onscreen that much. Archie comics have been adapted in India in films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, but setting it in the Anglo-Indian community and keeping the real essence of the Archies — the names, the original characters — that hadn’t been done. So the minute we found the community and the setting, we knew what we were going to do with it.
How did you go about transplanting Riverdale to India?
ZA: We were recreating a fictional place in America into a fictional place in India, so we could pretty much go the way we wanted to. But what is Riverdale? It’s a small town, everything is pretty, everything works out, it’s ideal. And we found that world within the hill stations in India, which are full of colonial architecture. We wanted it to feel like you stepped into a storybook.
Betty Cooper (Khushi Kapoor), Ethel Muggs (Dot), Veronica Lodge (Suhana Khan), Archie Andrews (Agastya Nanda), Reggie Mantle (Vedang Raina), Dilton Doiley (Yuvraj Menda), and Jughead Jones (Mihir Ahuja)
The cast has gotten so much press. How did you choose them?
ZA: We knew they had to be newcomers. They were 17, so we needed very young people. We didn’t want anybody’s star baggage or image to come into the roles, because these characters are in themselves iconic. The auditions took 8 to 12 months — it was a very long process.
What made Agastya the perfect Archie, Suhana the right Veronica, and Khushi the ideal Betty for you?
ZA: Well, all three can act. Let’s start there; that was a given. You can act, you can physically look the part, but the third thing is the essence of the character. Suhana has that vulnerable princess. Khushi has that sweetness — you can’t help but fall for those eyes. With Agastya, it was the innocence, a naïvité. You believe him when he says he loves both of them. He’s not a cad, he’s true blue.
And how about the rest of the gang?
ZA: Dot is a musician. I was actually talking to her about the music for the film, and I’m staring at her on Zoom, and I’m like, “She’s Ethel!” We found Dilton on Instagram — my casting director DMed Yuvraj [Menda], he came in, and I fell in love with him. Vedang [Raina] tested for Archie, but we found that he had a lot of swag, and maybe was not as naïve as we needed for Archie. So we tested him for Reggie. He just nailed it. And Jughead, Mihir [Ahuja] I’d already worked with.
Veronica Lodge (Suhana Khan), Betty Cooper (Khushi Kapoor), and Ethel Muggs (Dot)
When it came to Agastya, Suhana, and Khushi, I found it interesting that each of them chose this project for their debut. I would imagine any of them could have landed a massive solo launch. What do you think drew them to your ensemble movie?
ZA: Honestly, I don’t think opportunities like this come often. Even for me, why would I jump on this after Gully Boy? It’s one of those few things that come your way and where you know there’ll be nothing like it before or after. I think everybody who recognized that jumped. They just fell in love with it.
Were any of them Archieheads themselves?
ZA: Some had read it because of their parents. But it didn’t mean to them what it meant to us.
Hearing it was going to be set in the Anglo-Indian community was such an aha moment for me — like, now it makes sense. How did you go about bringing this very specific cultural milieu to the screen?
ZA: I mean, Archie comics is Americana, proper. And we needed to figure out how to keep the westernization and the original names, which immediately limited us to the Christian community in India. Hill stations like Landour, Mccluskieganj, these were Anglo-Indian settlements. So I thought that was interesting — because it hadn’t been represented, and culturally, they have a love for music, they have a love for food, they love gardening, their fashion is similar, they have dances, they are liberal, they have a dating culture. It just fit perfectly.
Reggie Mantle (Vedang Raina), Betty Cooper (Khushi Kapoor), Veronica Lodge (Suhana Khan), Archie Andrews (Agastya Nanda), Dilton Doiley (Yuvraj Menda), Jughead Jones (Mihir Ahuja), and Ethel Muggs (Dot)
How did you make sure you got the references right?
ZA: We started interviewing people before we wrote the script. There were things I would never have thought of, like certain language: “Teaching your father how to suck eggs.” And there were little things like, “We love to party, we love to sing songs, but every party ends in a fight — don’t forget that!” Those are the kinds of nuances we added.
What reactions have you gotten so far?
ZA: You see nostalgia with the older lot. With the younger kids, they love the kids and the clothes, and they also love that it’s about trees. They’re like, “You’re talking about the environment. That means a lot to us.” That was a big one — that resonated with them a lot.
The themes are very empowering for kids.
ZA: Wherever there’s been change made anywhere, it’s the youth. It was the 60s — the times were a-changing, rock and roll, that came with its own rebellion. And teenagers, man, they really think they can change the world. You’re invincible at that age. I remember being a teenager — you’re idealistic, in that period of your life when cynicism hasn’t touched you.
From Luck By Chance and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara to Gully Boy and Made in Heaven, you chronicle modern Indians navigating contemporary challenges and issues. But Archies is such a divergence — a full-on retro confection about teens in an imaginary place. What drew you to something so different?
ZA: All the things you mentioned! I was like, “How am I gonna do it?” I like doing something which is different — yes, I need to fall in love with the material and the world, but at the same time, I need to be a little scared. That keeps me on my toes. That keeps my creative juices flowing. I might get complacent if I repeat things. And I thought, when am I going to get this opportunity to relive my childhood? They were like a warm hug, you know, the Archie comics, and I just wanted to pass that on.
