Senorita in São Paulo

Standing behind us at the checkin counter to the flight to Sao Paulo from Mumbai was young Navya Naveli actor Amitabh Bachchanrsquos grandchild and sister of Agastya Nanda who was to make his onstage debut at Tudum Netflixrsquos slatelaunch event in BrazilIt would be the first time Nanda would make a public appearance We notice that even on Google the image that shows up for him is that of Zoya Akhtar the director of his debut film The Archies that will drop on Netflix in NovemberNot that we personally know Navya so we didnrsquot say hi But itrsquod be fair to assume she was travelling to Sao Paulo for her brotherrsquos big night Casual eavesdropping revealed she was off to Dresden instead if we heard it rightThe sevenmember youngling debutant cast of The Archies were on their own without any minders travelling on a regular flight Which probably makes Akhtar in a sense the principal of Riverdale High chaperoning these children on a school trip abroadZoya AkhtarAkhtar is clearly not pleased with this random analogy ldquoThis is not the Von Trapp family I am not their governess Irsquom doing my own thing Theyrsquore doing their own thing Irsquom making a film about teenagers so in that sense they are teaching me Irsquom too truant to be their principalrdquo she saysWersquod of course love to know all that shersquos doing in Brazil At the recent G20 convention in Srinagar on films and tourism what perhaps got discussed the most was how Indians travelling to Spain and Turkey had evidently shot up several times since the release of Akhtarrsquos Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara ZNMD 2011 and Dil Dhadakne Do DDD 2015 It could be the same for Brazil if Akhtar was to shoot her next filmseries here Has she been lsquorecceingrsquoShe has been to Brazil as a tourist before she says ldquoThis time it was for work so itrsquos very different I donrsquot think there is any filmmaker in the world who wouldnrsquot want to shoot a film in Brazil Everywhere you go itrsquos just lsquocharacterrsquo and lsquofeelrsquordquo Only half the globe apart from India of courseAkhtar was in Sao Paulo to represent The Archies her next release that shersquos still working on It was the only Asian content showcased on the Tudum stage Her cast performed to the filmrsquos dance number This is my story sunoCouldnrsquot help but wonder what if one of the newbies had slipped or fumbledmdashit can happen and there are no retakes on a live show What a global embarrassment itrsquod be to live down Of course none of that happenedThe kids did fine They had apparently rehearsed for two months for this live act that lasted all of 40 seconds on stageWhich is just as well Netflix is a stickler for time We got fiveodd minutes for the interview with Akhtar as well Calling them kids although Akhtar points out ldquoTheyrsquore young adults But theyrsquore adultsrdquo They still look like such teenagers even adorable mannequins in factmdashgiven that they walked down the Tudum redcarpet as a group in The Archiesrsquo makeup and costumeHardly saying a word to the cameras ldquoItrsquos too early for them to meet the pressrdquo Akhtar says as she takes us through all that went into turning them into onscreen charactersldquoTheyrsquove worked really hard to do what they were meant to and were born to They went through a lot of screen tests to get here firstly What followed was a proper lsquoboot camprsquo over six monthsmdashacting workshops with threefour different people dance lessons with Bosco Caesar practicing cycling skating for the girlshellipldquoThey had to learn to sing Theyrsquore lip syncing in the musical But that too requires training Therersquos an art to it I just wanted them to feel free so theyrsquore not conscious on the setrdquoIn her decadeandhalf long career Akhtar has essentially worked with established actors at least for the lead roles She waited for years searching for stars to headline her directorial debut Luck By Chance LBC 2009 This is her first time with an entire bunch thatrsquos never been on screen beforeShe says ldquoIrsquom kinda vicariously redebuting with them Because there is nothing like the experience of your first moviemdashyou tend to forget that get jaded thereon and start worrying about different thingsldquoI felt a little spoilt with a cast thatrsquos so enthusiastic At the same time theyrsquore not coming with any starfittings Theyrsquore literally part of the crew that happens to be in front of the camera Therersquos no baggage only hunger and joyrdquoAlso she adds ldquoItrsquos my first period film set in 1964mdasha musical in terms of form and format And itrsquos capturing something iconicmdashan adaptation that I havenrsquot done before Something new is what you always wanna dordquoThe Archies is based on the American comic series pure peak popculture ldquoIt was our portal to the West The only comic about teenagersmdashit wasnrsquot about super heroes but regular kids When this came to me I thoughtmdashhow often do you get paid to relive your childhood And have fun with it The concept of adapting a comic book which means a mix of the real and fantasy was enticingrdquoNot in as many words but Archie has already been adapted in various shapes in Bollywood Think Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander 1993 Or consider Karan Joharrsquos Kuch Kuch Hota Hai 1998mdashwhat else was itShah Rukh Khan 33 then practically played Archie Andrews in the filmrsquos first half Khanrsquos daughter Suhana debuts as Veronica Lodge in The Archies with Nanda as the protagonist and Khushi Kapoor Sridevirsquos daughter as Betty CooperAkhtar says ldquoThematically yes we have dealt with this before But this is the OG Archies So you canrsquot stay away from the love triangle or Jughead Vedang Raina liking food and there is Midge Dot Dilton Yuvraj Mendahelliprdquo Big Moose too ldquoOf courserdquoThere is also the obvious trolling online that the film has been through because of its lead cast that are essentially Bollywoodrsquos homegrown nextgen although the rest are from outside the film industry as well The other kind of barbs the film has attracted is something that Akhtar also faced before the release of DDDmdashthat it was too much about stinking rich peopleShe says ldquoI donrsquot know if the trolling is about my films Itrsquos about all films now Everyone gets trolledrdquo A funny tweet we came across about The Archies was about how Akhtar had finally shown Indians for what they always wanted to bemdashwhite peopleShersquos understandably not pleased to hear that ldquoWell they are all Indians on the screen Are you saying fair skinned people arenrsquot Indians How do we define what an Indian looks like It could be Hrithik Roshan It could be Mr Rajinikanth Diljit Dosanjh or Mary Kom Thatrsquos the beauty of IndiardquoThat the filmrsquos first trailer premiered at Tudum Akhtar asks us what we thought of it It doesnrsquot matter Itrsquos a long way before release Plus we tell her shersquos the only Indian filmmaker we know who hasnrsquot once laid an egg yetmdashfrom LBC ZNMD DDD Bombay Talkies Lust Stories Gully Boy down to her last release as writer Dahaad on Prime Video Seriously No pressure Just saying