Zoya Akhtar’s version of The Archies was released earlier this month. The film that marked the stellar debut of Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan, Amitabh Bachchan’s grandson Agastya Nanda and Janhvi Kapoor’s sister and Sridevi’s daughter Khushi Kapoor also comprised other talented actors such as Aditi Saigal aka Dot. The daughter of prodigious Amit Saigal shared in a recent interview about the love that is coming her way because of the film. She also recalled experience working with the cast of the film.
During an interaction with the Indian Express, Aditi Saigal shared, “My family and friends have loved it. People have a range of opinions and that’s how it is. I have received a fairly good response, so I am happy about that. I am already thinking about what’s next. I am trying to get into that mindset and not getting too ahead of myself at this stage.”
She added, “I did get a bit of recognition when my song “Everybody Dances” came out. It was like an introduction to what it is to be known a little bit and it did freak me out initially. It was a bit scary. But this (The Archies) is whole another level. Honestly, I don’t do things for recognition. I do them because I like to do them. I wrote songs purely for myself and if people are connecting with it, then it is always an amazing thing. Otherwise, I am very bad at pushing it. I am very protective of my creative liberty, so I make sure that I have the space to create what I want to create and not limit myself.”
Recalling how she got the part, Aditi quipped, “So Zoya had been following my YouTube channel for a long time, and she loved my music. She had initially approached me for the song “Assymetrical” in the film. If you are putting your song in a film, especially if it is a musical, it requires some editing here and there because the lyrics have to make sense in the story. So we had to sit and edit the lyrics. We were also making it into a duet, so we had to write a few lines. We did that together over Zoom. I was in the UK at the time. As we were editing, she asked me, ‘Do you act?’, and I said, ‘No, I had acted only in school, not professionally.’ But she anyway asked me to audition because she felt I was right for the part.”
Aditi Saigal also praised Suhana Khan for her dancing skills, “We were together the whole time. We were together as a group. We did acting workshops, dancing workshops, which for me was like (a bit difficult) as I am not a dancer. I had to learn on the job, and it was really trying. You know Suhana is the actual (dancer). She is very good and Yuvraj is great. I think Agastya, Vedang, Khushi and I picked it up on the job. Other than Yuvraj and Suhana, we really didn’t know how to dance. Some of them had singing lessons, which I didn’t have because I come from a music background. We always played music together on set because there were always guitars and pianos around,” she told the portal.
She further added, “We share a very close bond. There is a certain intimacy you feel with your co-actors because we spent so much time together in close quarters and we were working towards something together, even when we all had different personalities. I don’t think I have experienced anything like this before. It felt like we were on a basketball team or something. We became very close and Zoya made sure of that. I think the reason why we did so many workshops was to bring us close together and it definitely did that.”
The Archies, directed by Zoya Akhtar, is an Indian live-action musical movie based on the popular American comics of the same name. The Archies also stars Aditi Saigal (known by her stage name Dot), Vedang Raina, Yuvraj Menda, and Mihir Ahuja. Speaking about the film, Zoya previously said, “I am super excited to have the chance to bring The Archies to life. It was a large part of my childhood and teenage years. The characters are iconic and globally loved, which is also why I am a little nervous.
Spread across two hours and 23 minutes, The Archies has some hits and misses. Let’s start with the hits. The Archies is a movie made by and for Gen Z. This is not a film keeping those who are already familiar in mind. Zoya has also treated the film in a way that she is talking to the young adults of the country and not those who are loyal fans of the comic series. Keeping her target audience in mind, The Archies somewhat works. Zoya, along with screenwriters Ayesha Devitre Dhillon and Reema Kagti, sends a series of messages to the young generation.
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