Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar has responded to the flak that her upcoming directorial, The Archies, has been getting ever since the first glimpse was released.
When the first glimpse of the Indian adaptation of Archie Comics was dropped, fans criticised it widely, claiming that the world and the characters don't look Indian. The Archies story is set in a hill station of 1964 India and referring that people claimed that's ‘not how Indians looked’ back then.
“Why do you think that? They're all Indian. This is kind of reverse (racism). Are you saying fair Indians are not Indians? How do we define what an Indian looks like? It could be Hrithik Roshan, it could be Mr. Rajinikanth, it could be Diljit Dosanjh, it could be Mary Kom. That's the beauty of India. There are a lot of Indians that are light-skinned,” said Zoya in an interview to Mid-Day at TUDUM.
The ensemble stars a number of debutants, including Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan's daughter Suhana Khan, late Sridevi and producer Boney Kapoor's younger daughter Khushi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan's grandson Agastya Nanda.
The Archies has been adapted by Zoya and co-writers Reema Kagti and Ayesha DeVitre. It's produced by Zoya and Reema's Tiger Baby Films and will premiere on Netflix India on November 24.
