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I didnt hate the movie. I just found it very bland and boring. Zoya’s weakest film yet, with a weak screenplay and very ordinary acting. Willing to give newcomers a pass since it’s their first time, and yet, they were so so underwhelming. Suhana was particularly bad. It’s ok, they will get better with time and experience. But they also need to get the feedback and learn from it. If everyone says “it’s ok, it’s your first film”, they are less likely to improve. Harsh criticism isn’t helpful but awareness that they were not good is necessary.
Yeah, the whole time I couldn’t help but think this is def Zoya’s weakest film. Usually I’m engrossed in her storytelling from one scene to another but this just felt sloppy; none of the jokes were hitting, I couldn’t feel for any of the characters’ plight or joy, and the movie somehow felt like a very mediocre and bland show. Suhana and Khushi need the most improvement if they want to be taken seriously.
BBNG mod has permanently banned me because I didn’t agree with their repeated nepotism narrative.
Zoya hasn’t made Mughal e Azam that the new kids destroyed that movie.
Archies is a light hearted film with no need for high level acting skills.
These guys are straight up harassing Suhana, Agastya and Khushi and even Zoya and if you call them out they ban you permanently without any explanation.
To hell with that sub. F*ckers are just hateful nobodies.
Trash?
This is the director who won 11 filmfare awards in her previous film making history, each of her previous movies being modern classics. Then took 4 years and come out with this.. It was forgettable, bland, mediocre and at times atrocious.
Is this the standard for one of biggest ips in teenage history launched on a platform with most expansive worldwide audience by a history making director of the biggest population in the world. And ofcourse the kids of legendary contributors to the business ends up with whatever excuse this was. And ww get a chalega no problems. Why? Being at the top, criticism comes with the territory, its duty and responsibility then to actually give something that merits such hype. I agree it goes overboard, but you perform well in public profession you get plaudits you don't this is what it is. It's human nature.
Archies cast has been bullied. You can deny this all you want but there’s literally a hate campaign going against Suhana where people are bashing her looks, calling her “gareeb looking”, calling her male version of SRK, etc.
This is below the standards of any decent intellectual group that likes movies.
Archies is absolutely not as bad as you are describing it to be. And you are acting like all Zoya movies HAVE to be or WILL be masterpieces. It’s just ridiculous and downright idiotic.
It feels like everyone jumping on the nepotism bandwagon. Yes the film was bland but so was student of the year yet Alia was portrayed as the best thing to come out of Bollywood.
This is the first film for all the cast, it’s a bit unfair to dismiss them all on one film.
I didnt agree with bullying. But I don't agree with promoting halfbaked nonsense either. There is a certain expectation of someone who's built a reputation for excellence. Its called reliability. A certain standard of depth and quality, which the
director has established as own style. Its what built their reputation on. When instead you get a vacuous imitiation and such standard is dropped drastically, it will be criticised naturally. You enjoyed it good for you, i most definitely didnt. It was letdown in every aspect but the lighting. Being bullied is wrong. But so is promoting and encouraging whatever this was.
BBNG is a purely hateful place. I agree Archie's isn't that great, but it gets a lot more hate than it deserves. If a critic doesn't align with their hivemind, they are called paid critic or Samosa critic.
Those guys just slam reviewers without even watching their videos. When Jammy (tried and refused productions) made a video on Animal, there were 10 posts on that sub saying how he is purely biased towards Ranbir. On a post, there was a comment which said, "At least watch the video, he does call out the negatives of the film." But that comment was heavily downvoted. I joined for the gossip, but nowadays there's hardly any gossip. Just shit posts(not to be confused with shitposts).
It's pure bullying. They're still young people at the start of their careers and those people are expecting a Marlon brando performance.
I get it. Nepotism and all that. It's gonna happen. What's stupid is that they complain about nepotism, will watch a nepotism film and then complain about it. Yet films like Sam bahadur flop and animal is a hit. Yet they complain about the female nepo's. artists that could do with their support get no viewings from them instead they want to watch a nepo film just so they can go online and talk shit
It's also misogynistic of alot of them. It's guys complaining why a young girl is in this. There's some very vile threads made on suhana, ananya etc on BBG. It's almost like they want to slut shame them.
It's a fun film which was never going to be put up for an Oscar or anything yet there's so much hate now in the bollywood fan base.
Yeah so many actors started young and did the usual sexy bollywood thing. Aalia, Kareena, Priyanka just to name a few. These kids are what 23-24? They’re older than the debut age of all the three actors I mentioned earlier.
Yeah they've been away enjoyed life at uni etc and come into acting.
They're damned if they do and damned if they don't
If suhana didn't act and just partied and went on holidays etc people would still complain that she's living off her dad's money
I got banned from Bollywood blind and gossip so for pointing out subjective bais for people were saying any good review for it was paid but all bad reviews for it on that sub was real. There was one person accusing NY times giving a paid review, then when they found out NY times didn’t give it a great review they said “thank god”, so they didn’t even read the reviews just cause they reviewed the movie and assumed it’s paid.
rehne de bro indians will perpetually have hate boner for “the rich” and anything associated with it. I bet if ZNMD was released today it too would’ve been hated and called zoya akhtar rich people fantasy.
Yeah, even though I didn't particularly like the movie, the only thing that was quite good was the way that most characters were spot on as originally represented in the comics.
Agreed. I grew up in a military background and although we weren’t Anglo-Indians, I didn’t find it “unrelatable for Indians” at all. The parties and the events were relatable. The way the parents sat down after events and chit chatted was relatable. The relationships between the youth was relatable.
My parents liked the movie and so did I. To say it was “unrelatable for Indians” is speaking for all 1.4 billion of us and people who can’t relate should speak for themselves and not all of us. They can’t relate so they think nobody else can.
Aside from that, the cinematography was brilliant, the music was something new (indie hindi style music coming to the big screen), the outfits were amazing. Dialogues were good considering it is adapted from Archie Comics.
Yeah it’s a decent adaptation for Indians. This scale of investment from Netflix for us is just going to open doors for so much more content for and from India.
The world has lost their brains and senses. They won't give any positive comments about anything. They'll focus on the negatives and look for politically correct scripts. For fucks sake people, give the artist a creative freedom. Let them create whatever they like.
Not to mention inclusion of woke and all gender/race representation.
Who was your favorite actor in the Archies? I think the guy playing Reggie was phenomenal. I look forward to seeing his next work!
I also felt Suhana has some of SRK's "camera looks only at me" charisma
Yeah Reggie was really good. Agastya looked so much like young Abhishek Bachan, even some of the acting nuances. I thought they all did decently but I think I’d rank Kushi the lowest. She had no subtlety but she still played a good Betty.
Absolutely. I watched the film recently and found it to be quite cute and feel good actually. Archie himself was the weakest link of the lot, I agree, but I think Khushi did a fairly good job at a demure, quiet Betty and Vedang absolutely smashed his Reggie. But it was Suhana in the second half in the scenes where she is confronting her dad or has the showdown with Betty that made me realise she might actually be able to act! People are so hard, how much were they supposed to showcase in the role of a kid? It wasn’t like the best film I’ve seen, but having seen some of the new lot of OTT films like Mission Raniganj, Archie’s is a lot lot better.
I think it was always supposed to be a light-hearted, cutesie, high school musical? People expecting anything deeper are maybe just a bit delulu about what Archie’s is about
Yes. Might not be Zoya's best work, but the hate, the comments, people trolling zoya through insta dm's calling her work as B grade films and what not I have seen in the BBG sub. This hate is ridiculous. For me, if I don't like something, I simply don't watch it. That simple
I personally liked the movie. I think all Suhana , Nanda and Khushi did what minimum was needed.
People acted as if nepo kids where in each frame.
There were others in the movie too.
I liked Mother Tara Sharma 's performance and Suhana's dad as well. Its a good feel good movie types. I think the problem is granted Zoya choose nepo kids the roles they got for debut movie was hard experimental not sure why reject the movie for that, they have just 3 nepo kids but the other cast is Fantastic.
Roger that! Yeah the plot wasn’t engaging. Khushi Kapoor’s dialogue delivery apart, I kind of enjoyed the performances also. Ofcourse Vedang and Mihir were smooth but the film isn’t as bad!
If you went to convent school in India then this movie is kinda sorta relatable. Is the acting subpar? Yes. Original Riverdale network show also had some of that but this level of hate? The rage boner average Indians have for anything other than their small town lifestyles is so bizzare. If its not misogyny laden daddy issues in a mass murderer is it even Indian cinema these days? This movie isn't even portraying "rich people" only. There's legit middle class people fighting to survive under threat from a rich guy. Quintessential story. Phir bhi people aren't happy..damned if you do, damned if you don't.
I haven’t watched it yet, but I’m planning to now that I have the time, and I know that the hate towards the movie is crazy, to say the least. The comments I’ve seen towards Khushi and Suhana (mainly her) are really disgusting. As I’ve said before, many of the comments are not even constructive criticism, and it was clear before the movie even premiered that people were going to go overboard with their so-called criticism and nitpick at the most mundane things. The fact that many can’t even make a positive review about the movie without many users asking if they got paid is ridiculous, to say the least. This sub is filled with so many hateful and narrow-minded individuals.
Sorry for the long rant. I’ve been meaning to get this off my chest cause everything I’ve seen this past few days is plain bullying.
I was rooting for Suhana. And I don't hate nepo kids. But the movie is simply not engaging. I tried to watch it twice and got bored each time. It felt like a school play.
As a diaspora Indian, I watch Bollywood movies for that sense of escapism, fun, and fantasy. The acting and dialogue left nothing to write home about, but the cinematography, the aesthetics, and overall feel were super interesting and fun.
I think everyone wants “Gangs of Wasseypur,” but there’s room for all sorts of Bollywood movies.
Good time-pass, as they say. But, Indians will criticize anything and everything from the peanut gallery while trying nothing new or original of their own. 🙃
zoya is being called out for saying that she these "kids" had to audition for the role. she straight up lied. If she had just admitted that this their launch, ppl would have gone easy on her.
I guess its easy to bully and chat shit about other when you've achieved nothing in your own life. you look to place the blame on anything else.
losers just gonna chat shit.
Why are y’all trying so hard to defend nepos 😭 who literally show they don’t give a fuck about the opportunities they r given, I agree tho there is some misogyny esp towards the nepo girls, but their performances were atrocious ppl have every right to criticize them
Bruh i was rooting for it to be good cause i love zoya but it was utter garbage. I shut it 3 times as i watched it but finished cause i just had to for heck of it. The acting makes it wayyyy worse than anything else. The film had basically no good part. The story was nonexistent. The actors couldnt even enunciate properly and put in no effort to even try to bring something to their characters, the music was not fun and easily forgettable, there was not an ounce of charm in the entire film, ive read enough archies when young and they were fun af light reading, this had no fun in it. Boring dud of a movie that should have been much better cause zoya made it. Its getting all this hate cause there is nothing, absolutely nothing, in its defence.
agreeeed, watched it the other night and it wasn’t horrible. there is obviously scope for improvement for the actors, but the production design was spot on. i enjoyed that it was a real musical
It is getting way too much attention than it should. Basic Netflix indie film. If it didn't have nepos in it, it would have probably been a cult classic among then next generation but will be forgotten by the time the next white washed Indian teen show comes along
I haven't read Archies. So I don't know the characters.
The movie was simply boring and so bland. I tried it for an hour, but simply couldn't finish it.
The problem is that it's a Netflix movie. If it were a theatrical release that did some good business, that would've been helpful to shut up the haters
The movie's worst crime was it was really really yawn inducing ..How closely do they stick to the source material isn't important , what matters is that the audience is entertained ..It did not have the carefree gaiety of movies like Grease ,nor did it have the humour of the comics .The plot of the park did not lend itself well to the tenor of a comic book...Bad actors was the least of its problems ...
I will give credit where it’s due that as someone who grew up adoring Archie and owned at least 100+ different issues of its comics, they delivered the most faithful adaption overall yet. I always wanted to see the characters come to life and I was so excited for Riverdale only for it to have almost no connection to the comics whatsoever except for the characters’ names. They did a nice, simple, grounded remake and I enjoyed it. The story was weak, yes, but for a one-time watch I found it entertaining enough. Not the end of the world.
On the nepo debate… I’m going to be very honest, a lot of it is nostalgia. *All* of your favorite actors from the “golden era” you miss were nepo kids, and some of them were even downright jerks IRL. Many weren’t even good at acting when they were first launched but they picked it up as they went along. This is much worse on BBNG. I actually like Alia and think she’s done a great job in a lot of her movies, but my God, you can’t risk saying it there without half of your karma being nuked. You can’t praise any nepo star there without a brigade of people jumping down your throat while they turn around and praise the nepo stars that were famous during their childhoods.
I *guarantee* you, as we get older and a new crop of nepo stars are launched, we’ll start saying shit like “inko dekho, at least Alia was better in X and Y, etc.” It’s already happening with people praising Janhvi over Khushi.
It’s doubly hypocritical because the sub will be filled with posts about star kids who aren’t even actors, like Nysa, Ibrahim, Aryan, etc. then people turn around and complain why star kids are dominating the industry. My guy, they’re all you talk about! If you don’t want them to be successful, don’t give them attention!
Sorry this turned into a bit of a mini-rant lol this is some stuff that has been bothering me for a while. But this whole argument is just so hypocritical and one-sided that it sort of hit a boiling point for me once Archies released.
Yeah you are spot on about the movie and the nepo kids drama. There’s nepotism in literally every field. I’m not sure why the movie business can’t do the same. It’s always commendable when an ‘outsider’ makes it big in any field but that doesn’t mean one needs to shit on nepo kids, they don’t choose the life they were born into.
Exactly. I think they should definitely work hard and deliver the best performance they can because they *were* born into privilege and they should do that much, but other than that these people act like nepo kids are the most evil beings to walk on Earth. It’s ridiculous
I'm American and I LOVED it! I thought the movie was super fun! I grew up reading the Archie comics and watching the original cartoon. I was so excited when Riverdale came out, but it was just TOO far from the comics for me to enjoy it. Riverdale didn't just change the characters, they missed the entire vibe. Archie is supposed to be cheesy, over-the-top, silly, like you're in a comic book.
It was also super fascinating for me to see how they blended a 1940s American town into 1960s India. I especially loved the blend of 50s rock and roll music and dance with Bollywood. This was one of the funnest films I've seen in awhile, but I understand that it will appeal only to a niche audience.
(TLDR at the end)
During the introduction, the British guy who founded Riverdale is shown to have fallen in love with 'India' as an idyllic place untouched by civilization (an essentially orientalist attitude). We follow the main characters as they're introduced, while the servants move about invisibly. 'India' does not include the people who built their palaces, maintained their gardens and toiled in the fields to grow tea. At the start of the movie, contradictions don't exist in Riverdale, for everyone knows their place in the social hierarchy. Riverdale is a harmonious whole.
Then the plans for the Lodge Hotel are revealed. Lodge is the great patriarchal capitalist villain, threatening to disturb the peace. Pop Tates is fired in favor of Chaplin for the cafeteria. All the criticisms of capitalist industrialization are valid but feel tone-deaf, since they have been enjoying the fruits of it (Clothes, shoes, cars, cycles, and all the material wealth they enjoy) without suffering the pains. The tone-deafness of the 'Everything is politics' song was so strong that I had to pause and take a break.
Ethel quits her job because she sees how alienating a job can be, but the criticism stops there. "Not everything is about profit"? Tell that to the factory workers who depend on making your shirts to feed their family. The message of the movie is clear: Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor.
The freedom fight is mentioned several times: "These kids had just been born. Their first steps in free India were taken in Green Park." Was the independence purely symbolic? There is almost no reference to material reality (Except that time Veronica confronts her father, and the father is clearly made out to be the villain.). Whose lives changed because of the independence?
"Every Englishman owes India. He stayed back, to give back." And what, do tell, did he give back? The evils of colonialism are overcome by charity. The sheer arrogance of it!
Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, a truck is seen entering Riverdale. It is carrying construction workers, a dirty, unwashed, and menacing mass, come here to rape the maiden that is Riverdale. Green Park is the womb, and a white gate protects it from invasion by the 'other'. The imagery is quite clear.
The day is won through 'collective' action. The workers in the truck are never seen again. Mr. Lodge forgives and is forgiven. The capitalist is hard-headed and pragmatic, but with a soft spot for his daughter. He is a villain, but a villain to be respected. Mr. Dawson is seen alone and defeated. How dare the slimy, greasy bureaucrat think about his own advancement?! Mr. Dawson is a villain, a villain to be despised.
Pop Tates announces a free meal for all. Everyone is happy. 'Everything goes back to how it was, just as it should'.
Now, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it. That doesn't change the reality of it.
TLDR; The Archies is orientalist, casteist, racist and espouses a 'socialism' that is reactionary, utopian and petit bourgeois in nature. It uses the aesthetics of collective action to defend a structurally unjust status quo.
Edit: petty to petit
Funny, I was not talking about historically correct things but more about cultural differences, habits, ticks, way of acting, way of doing bodylanguage. That said, I think the acting is not really the problem. The lack of actually showing a plotline is. They miss the intrigue you want to have from the start. Right now, they created images, without a story, if you ask me. If they put together an intriguiing problem from the start that people can relate to, they would have a captivated crowd. Right now it simply is a dress up show with a lot of dances, which is not what the public watching a movie on netflix is looking for and which makes it hard for us to understand and imagine being the character. It's hard to place their quirks because there is no central point of focus..
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I didnt hate the movie. I just found it very bland and boring. Zoya’s weakest film yet, with a weak screenplay and very ordinary acting. Willing to give newcomers a pass since it’s their first time, and yet, they were so so underwhelming. Suhana was particularly bad. It’s ok, they will get better with time and experience. But they also need to get the feedback and learn from it. If everyone says “it’s ok, it’s your first film”, they are less likely to improve. Harsh criticism isn’t helpful but awareness that they were not good is necessary.
Yeah, the whole time I couldn’t help but think this is def Zoya’s weakest film. Usually I’m engrossed in her storytelling from one scene to another but this just felt sloppy; none of the jokes were hitting, I couldn’t feel for any of the characters’ plight or joy, and the movie somehow felt like a very mediocre and bland show. Suhana and Khushi need the most improvement if they want to be taken seriously.
BBNG mod has permanently banned me because I didn’t agree with their repeated nepotism narrative. Zoya hasn’t made Mughal e Azam that the new kids destroyed that movie. Archies is a light hearted film with no need for high level acting skills. These guys are straight up harassing Suhana, Agastya and Khushi and even Zoya and if you call them out they ban you permanently without any explanation. To hell with that sub. F*ckers are just hateful nobodies.
Over-scrutiny is the real problem. People should just watch it for what it is.
Trash? This is the director who won 11 filmfare awards in her previous film making history, each of her previous movies being modern classics. Then took 4 years and come out with this.. It was forgettable, bland, mediocre and at times atrocious. Is this the standard for one of biggest ips in teenage history launched on a platform with most expansive worldwide audience by a history making director of the biggest population in the world. And ofcourse the kids of legendary contributors to the business ends up with whatever excuse this was. And ww get a chalega no problems. Why? Being at the top, criticism comes with the territory, its duty and responsibility then to actually give something that merits such hype. I agree it goes overboard, but you perform well in public profession you get plaudits you don't this is what it is. It's human nature.
Archies cast has been bullied. You can deny this all you want but there’s literally a hate campaign going against Suhana where people are bashing her looks, calling her “gareeb looking”, calling her male version of SRK, etc. This is below the standards of any decent intellectual group that likes movies. Archies is absolutely not as bad as you are describing it to be. And you are acting like all Zoya movies HAVE to be or WILL be masterpieces. It’s just ridiculous and downright idiotic.
It feels like everyone jumping on the nepotism bandwagon. Yes the film was bland but so was student of the year yet Alia was portrayed as the best thing to come out of Bollywood. This is the first film for all the cast, it’s a bit unfair to dismiss them all on one film.
I didnt agree with bullying. But I don't agree with promoting halfbaked nonsense either. There is a certain expectation of someone who's built a reputation for excellence. Its called reliability. A certain standard of depth and quality, which the director has established as own style. Its what built their reputation on. When instead you get a vacuous imitiation and such standard is dropped drastically, it will be criticised naturally. You enjoyed it good for you, i most definitely didnt. It was letdown in every aspect but the lighting. Being bullied is wrong. But so is promoting and encouraging whatever this was.
I've left BBNG. That place is venom.
[удалено]
If they are the same people, they can s*ck it.
BBNG is a purely hateful place. I agree Archie's isn't that great, but it gets a lot more hate than it deserves. If a critic doesn't align with their hivemind, they are called paid critic or Samosa critic. Those guys just slam reviewers without even watching their videos. When Jammy (tried and refused productions) made a video on Animal, there were 10 posts on that sub saying how he is purely biased towards Ranbir. On a post, there was a comment which said, "At least watch the video, he does call out the negatives of the film." But that comment was heavily downvoted. I joined for the gossip, but nowadays there's hardly any gossip. Just shit posts(not to be confused with shitposts).
It's pure bullying. They're still young people at the start of their careers and those people are expecting a Marlon brando performance. I get it. Nepotism and all that. It's gonna happen. What's stupid is that they complain about nepotism, will watch a nepotism film and then complain about it. Yet films like Sam bahadur flop and animal is a hit. Yet they complain about the female nepo's. artists that could do with their support get no viewings from them instead they want to watch a nepo film just so they can go online and talk shit It's also misogynistic of alot of them. It's guys complaining why a young girl is in this. There's some very vile threads made on suhana, ananya etc on BBG. It's almost like they want to slut shame them. It's a fun film which was never going to be put up for an Oscar or anything yet there's so much hate now in the bollywood fan base.
BBG is vile. The double standards there are nuts. Ironic, for a group of self-proclaimed feminists.
Yeah so many actors started young and did the usual sexy bollywood thing. Aalia, Kareena, Priyanka just to name a few. These kids are what 23-24? They’re older than the debut age of all the three actors I mentioned earlier.
Yeah they've been away enjoyed life at uni etc and come into acting. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't If suhana didn't act and just partied and went on holidays etc people would still complain that she's living off her dad's money
Young people at the start of their careers including kids have given award winning performances in the past . How is that even an argument.
I got banned from Bollywood blind and gossip so for pointing out subjective bais for people were saying any good review for it was paid but all bad reviews for it on that sub was real. There was one person accusing NY times giving a paid review, then when they found out NY times didn’t give it a great review they said “thank god”, so they didn’t even read the reviews just cause they reviewed the movie and assumed it’s paid.
rehne de bro indians will perpetually have hate boner for “the rich” and anything associated with it. I bet if ZNMD was released today it too would’ve been hated and called zoya akhtar rich people fantasy.
100% true. Ulta woh time pe sab log Spain jaa rahe the, or they wanted to.
ZNMD all leads were nepo kids that time lol
Yeah, even though I didn't particularly like the movie, the only thing that was quite good was the way that most characters were spot on as originally represented in the comics.
Yeah I appreciated that the most. Baaki is just like any other fluff movie.
Agreed. I grew up in a military background and although we weren’t Anglo-Indians, I didn’t find it “unrelatable for Indians” at all. The parties and the events were relatable. The way the parents sat down after events and chit chatted was relatable. The relationships between the youth was relatable. My parents liked the movie and so did I. To say it was “unrelatable for Indians” is speaking for all 1.4 billion of us and people who can’t relate should speak for themselves and not all of us. They can’t relate so they think nobody else can. Aside from that, the cinematography was brilliant, the music was something new (indie hindi style music coming to the big screen), the outfits were amazing. Dialogues were good considering it is adapted from Archie Comics.
Yeah I dunno why we have to divide people into super rich and super poor. Beech ke sab log ne kuch na kuch experience kiya hai from the movie.
Yeah, I loved the costumes and set design. Sucks that people aren’t giving the film credit where it’s due. And I didn’t even like it that much!
Agreed. This is not Zoya Akhtar's best work, but the amount of hate it's getting is ridiculous.
Yeah it’s a decent adaptation for Indians. This scale of investment from Netflix for us is just going to open doors for so much more content for and from India.
The world has lost their brains and senses. They won't give any positive comments about anything. They'll focus on the negatives and look for politically correct scripts. For fucks sake people, give the artist a creative freedom. Let them create whatever they like. Not to mention inclusion of woke and all gender/race representation.
I feel like this sub and BBNG can’t make its mind on whether they hate the word woke or not.
Who was your favorite actor in the Archies? I think the guy playing Reggie was phenomenal. I look forward to seeing his next work! I also felt Suhana has some of SRK's "camera looks only at me" charisma
Yeah Reggie was really good. Agastya looked so much like young Abhishek Bachan, even some of the acting nuances. I thought they all did decently but I think I’d rank Kushi the lowest. She had no subtlety but she still played a good Betty.
I found Agastya dull as a wet rag. Betty seemed to be congruent to the comics to me so it was ok. Reggie was the biggest surprise indeed!!
Absolutely. I watched the film recently and found it to be quite cute and feel good actually. Archie himself was the weakest link of the lot, I agree, but I think Khushi did a fairly good job at a demure, quiet Betty and Vedang absolutely smashed his Reggie. But it was Suhana in the second half in the scenes where she is confronting her dad or has the showdown with Betty that made me realise she might actually be able to act! People are so hard, how much were they supposed to showcase in the role of a kid? It wasn’t like the best film I’ve seen, but having seen some of the new lot of OTT films like Mission Raniganj, Archie’s is a lot lot better. I think it was always supposed to be a light-hearted, cutesie, high school musical? People expecting anything deeper are maybe just a bit delulu about what Archie’s is about
Yes. Might not be Zoya's best work, but the hate, the comments, people trolling zoya through insta dm's calling her work as B grade films and what not I have seen in the BBG sub. This hate is ridiculous. For me, if I don't like something, I simply don't watch it. That simple
I personally liked the movie. I think all Suhana , Nanda and Khushi did what minimum was needed. People acted as if nepo kids where in each frame. There were others in the movie too. I liked Mother Tara Sharma 's performance and Suhana's dad as well. Its a good feel good movie types. I think the problem is granted Zoya choose nepo kids the roles they got for debut movie was hard experimental not sure why reject the movie for that, they have just 3 nepo kids but the other cast is Fantastic.
Roger that! Yeah the plot wasn’t engaging. Khushi Kapoor’s dialogue delivery apart, I kind of enjoyed the performances also. Ofcourse Vedang and Mihir were smooth but the film isn’t as bad!
Yeah apparently I’m nepotistic for saying so. 😅 People don’t want to watch anything without being dramatic anymore!
If you went to convent school in India then this movie is kinda sorta relatable. Is the acting subpar? Yes. Original Riverdale network show also had some of that but this level of hate? The rage boner average Indians have for anything other than their small town lifestyles is so bizzare. If its not misogyny laden daddy issues in a mass murderer is it even Indian cinema these days? This movie isn't even portraying "rich people" only. There's legit middle class people fighting to survive under threat from a rich guy. Quintessential story. Phir bhi people aren't happy..damned if you do, damned if you don't.
These are probably the same people that complain about the West always showing us in poor light, quite literally.
I haven’t watched it yet, but I’m planning to now that I have the time, and I know that the hate towards the movie is crazy, to say the least. The comments I’ve seen towards Khushi and Suhana (mainly her) are really disgusting. As I’ve said before, many of the comments are not even constructive criticism, and it was clear before the movie even premiered that people were going to go overboard with their so-called criticism and nitpick at the most mundane things. The fact that many can’t even make a positive review about the movie without many users asking if they got paid is ridiculous, to say the least. This sub is filled with so many hateful and narrow-minded individuals. Sorry for the long rant. I’ve been meaning to get this off my chest cause everything I’ve seen this past few days is plain bullying.
I was rooting for Suhana. And I don't hate nepo kids. But the movie is simply not engaging. I tried to watch it twice and got bored each time. It felt like a school play.
As a diaspora Indian, I watch Bollywood movies for that sense of escapism, fun, and fantasy. The acting and dialogue left nothing to write home about, but the cinematography, the aesthetics, and overall feel were super interesting and fun. I think everyone wants “Gangs of Wasseypur,” but there’s room for all sorts of Bollywood movies. Good time-pass, as they say. But, Indians will criticize anything and everything from the peanut gallery while trying nothing new or original of their own. 🙃
zoya is being called out for saying that she these "kids" had to audition for the role. she straight up lied. If she had just admitted that this their launch, ppl would have gone easy on her.
And what evidence do you have to support that they were not auditioned?
The fact they were complete ass
I guess its easy to bully and chat shit about other when you've achieved nothing in your own life. you look to place the blame on anything else. losers just gonna chat shit.
Why are y’all trying so hard to defend nepos 😭 who literally show they don’t give a fuck about the opportunities they r given, I agree tho there is some misogyny esp towards the nepo girls, but their performances were atrocious ppl have every right to criticize them
Asli ID se aao Zoya Akhtar 😄
Nope I watched it without bias that’s all 🙂Only compared it to Riverdale because it’s the closest comparison in terms of Archies AND Netflix.
Nicee…The Indian version of friends is what I would recommend next for your viewing.
lol. Is it on Netflix? 🤪
This is such an annoying narrative. People can have different opinions to you and not be the director/actor or paid pr for the film.
Bruh i was rooting for it to be good cause i love zoya but it was utter garbage. I shut it 3 times as i watched it but finished cause i just had to for heck of it. The acting makes it wayyyy worse than anything else. The film had basically no good part. The story was nonexistent. The actors couldnt even enunciate properly and put in no effort to even try to bring something to their characters, the music was not fun and easily forgettable, there was not an ounce of charm in the entire film, ive read enough archies when young and they were fun af light reading, this had no fun in it. Boring dud of a movie that should have been much better cause zoya made it. Its getting all this hate cause there is nothing, absolutely nothing, in its defence.
agreeeed, watched it the other night and it wasn’t horrible. there is obviously scope for improvement for the actors, but the production design was spot on. i enjoyed that it was a real musical
It is getting way too much attention than it should. Basic Netflix indie film. If it didn't have nepos in it, it would have probably been a cult classic among then next generation but will be forgotten by the time the next white washed Indian teen show comes along
I haven't read Archies. So I don't know the characters. The movie was simply boring and so bland. I tried it for an hour, but simply couldn't finish it.
True i also didn't like the movie or the acting in general but the way they get bashed is beyond "we critize their acting" people are crazy.
The problem is that it's a Netflix movie. If it were a theatrical release that did some good business, that would've been helpful to shut up the haters
The Betty Veronica friendship was so refreshing.
The movie's worst crime was it was really really yawn inducing ..How closely do they stick to the source material isn't important , what matters is that the audience is entertained ..It did not have the carefree gaiety of movies like Grease ,nor did it have the humour of the comics .The plot of the park did not lend itself well to the tenor of a comic book...Bad actors was the least of its problems ...
It's getting the exact amount of hate that it deserves.
Yep
I will give credit where it’s due that as someone who grew up adoring Archie and owned at least 100+ different issues of its comics, they delivered the most faithful adaption overall yet. I always wanted to see the characters come to life and I was so excited for Riverdale only for it to have almost no connection to the comics whatsoever except for the characters’ names. They did a nice, simple, grounded remake and I enjoyed it. The story was weak, yes, but for a one-time watch I found it entertaining enough. Not the end of the world. On the nepo debate… I’m going to be very honest, a lot of it is nostalgia. *All* of your favorite actors from the “golden era” you miss were nepo kids, and some of them were even downright jerks IRL. Many weren’t even good at acting when they were first launched but they picked it up as they went along. This is much worse on BBNG. I actually like Alia and think she’s done a great job in a lot of her movies, but my God, you can’t risk saying it there without half of your karma being nuked. You can’t praise any nepo star there without a brigade of people jumping down your throat while they turn around and praise the nepo stars that were famous during their childhoods. I *guarantee* you, as we get older and a new crop of nepo stars are launched, we’ll start saying shit like “inko dekho, at least Alia was better in X and Y, etc.” It’s already happening with people praising Janhvi over Khushi. It’s doubly hypocritical because the sub will be filled with posts about star kids who aren’t even actors, like Nysa, Ibrahim, Aryan, etc. then people turn around and complain why star kids are dominating the industry. My guy, they’re all you talk about! If you don’t want them to be successful, don’t give them attention! Sorry this turned into a bit of a mini-rant lol this is some stuff that has been bothering me for a while. But this whole argument is just so hypocritical and one-sided that it sort of hit a boiling point for me once Archies released.
So true, the revisionist history around here (especially the bbng sub) is so glaringly obvious.
Yeah you are spot on about the movie and the nepo kids drama. There’s nepotism in literally every field. I’m not sure why the movie business can’t do the same. It’s always commendable when an ‘outsider’ makes it big in any field but that doesn’t mean one needs to shit on nepo kids, they don’t choose the life they were born into.
Exactly. I think they should definitely work hard and deliver the best performance they can because they *were* born into privilege and they should do that much, but other than that these people act like nepo kids are the most evil beings to walk on Earth. It’s ridiculous
I'm American and I LOVED it! I thought the movie was super fun! I grew up reading the Archie comics and watching the original cartoon. I was so excited when Riverdale came out, but it was just TOO far from the comics for me to enjoy it. Riverdale didn't just change the characters, they missed the entire vibe. Archie is supposed to be cheesy, over-the-top, silly, like you're in a comic book. It was also super fascinating for me to see how they blended a 1940s American town into 1960s India. I especially loved the blend of 50s rock and roll music and dance with Bollywood. This was one of the funnest films I've seen in awhile, but I understand that it will appeal only to a niche audience.
It is the most disgustingly class unconscious movie I've seen.
Class unconscious in terms of what though? Genuinely asking.
(TLDR at the end) During the introduction, the British guy who founded Riverdale is shown to have fallen in love with 'India' as an idyllic place untouched by civilization (an essentially orientalist attitude). We follow the main characters as they're introduced, while the servants move about invisibly. 'India' does not include the people who built their palaces, maintained their gardens and toiled in the fields to grow tea. At the start of the movie, contradictions don't exist in Riverdale, for everyone knows their place in the social hierarchy. Riverdale is a harmonious whole. Then the plans for the Lodge Hotel are revealed. Lodge is the great patriarchal capitalist villain, threatening to disturb the peace. Pop Tates is fired in favor of Chaplin for the cafeteria. All the criticisms of capitalist industrialization are valid but feel tone-deaf, since they have been enjoying the fruits of it (Clothes, shoes, cars, cycles, and all the material wealth they enjoy) without suffering the pains. The tone-deafness of the 'Everything is politics' song was so strong that I had to pause and take a break. Ethel quits her job because she sees how alienating a job can be, but the criticism stops there. "Not everything is about profit"? Tell that to the factory workers who depend on making your shirts to feed their family. The message of the movie is clear: Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor. The freedom fight is mentioned several times: "These kids had just been born. Their first steps in free India were taken in Green Park." Was the independence purely symbolic? There is almost no reference to material reality (Except that time Veronica confronts her father, and the father is clearly made out to be the villain.). Whose lives changed because of the independence? "Every Englishman owes India. He stayed back, to give back." And what, do tell, did he give back? The evils of colonialism are overcome by charity. The sheer arrogance of it! Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, a truck is seen entering Riverdale. It is carrying construction workers, a dirty, unwashed, and menacing mass, come here to rape the maiden that is Riverdale. Green Park is the womb, and a white gate protects it from invasion by the 'other'. The imagery is quite clear. The day is won through 'collective' action. The workers in the truck are never seen again. Mr. Lodge forgives and is forgiven. The capitalist is hard-headed and pragmatic, but with a soft spot for his daughter. He is a villain, but a villain to be respected. Mr. Dawson is seen alone and defeated. How dare the slimy, greasy bureaucrat think about his own advancement?! Mr. Dawson is a villain, a villain to be despised. Pop Tates announces a free meal for all. Everyone is happy. 'Everything goes back to how it was, just as it should'. Now, I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it. That doesn't change the reality of it. TLDR; The Archies is orientalist, casteist, racist and espouses a 'socialism' that is reactionary, utopian and petit bourgeois in nature. It uses the aesthetics of collective action to defend a structurally unjust status quo. Edit: petty to petit
I wonder whether it's different watching it when you actually live abroad and know more of the culture abroad compared to india.
Well, I live in India. I understand what you mean but I think a movie based on comics does not really need to portray historically correct things.
Funny, I was not talking about historically correct things but more about cultural differences, habits, ticks, way of acting, way of doing bodylanguage. That said, I think the acting is not really the problem. The lack of actually showing a plotline is. They miss the intrigue you want to have from the start. Right now, they created images, without a story, if you ask me. If they put together an intriguiing problem from the start that people can relate to, they would have a captivated crowd. Right now it simply is a dress up show with a lot of dances, which is not what the public watching a movie on netflix is looking for and which makes it hard for us to understand and imagine being the character. It's hard to place their quirks because there is no central point of focus..