The Archies Movie Review

The era is 1964. The setting is a quaint little hill station, teeming with Anglo-Indians, somewhere in North India, called Riverdale. Archie (Agastya Nanda), Betty (Khushi Kapoor), Veronica (Suhana Khan), Jughead (Mihir Ahuja), Reggie (Vedang Raina), Ethel (Dot) and Dilton (Yuvraj Menda) are highschool students in their last year of school. They’re on the cusp of adulthood and like most teenagers, are struggling with the issues that come with this age. Archie and friends, who have their origin in one of the most widely read American comics, find themselves transplanted in India in a unique way. To have them as Anglo-Indians is a nice touch. Let’s not forget the Indian in the community's name. The people of Riverdale love India and wouldn’t think of living anywhere else. If they listen to The Beatles, then they are also aware of Mohammed Rafi, Shammi Kapoor is as much a sex-symbol for them as Elvis and masala chai feels as refreshing as soda pop.

The Indianisation is superbly done. The essence of the Anglo-Indian community – their love for music, for dance, baking, working in the railways, adaptation of the western style of clothing and hairstyle, as well as their accents is brought to life in great detail.

The film follows the same arc that’s shown in the comics. Archie can’t decide between Veronica and Betty, Jughead loves to eat every minute and Dilton loves to invent quirky things. Betty is shown to be a good baker, Ethel is a great hair-dresser and Reggie wants to be a journalist. Veronica, of course, is too rich to actually understand the concerns of her middle-class friends.

Adulting is hard. While the youngsters are busy with their last year of carless living, they also get to know that their town might be changing, and not for the better it seems. In the name of progress, the old places, like the bookshop of Betty’s father or the town’s favourite cafe, Pop Tate’s, are getting bought over and giving way to glitzy storefronts lacking a soul and there are rumours that their favourite place, Green Park, which lies at the heart of the town and is sacred to the community because of its nostalgic value, too is marked for development. They decide to raise their voice against it and in the process, realise their strengths and weaknesses.

The film’s cinematographer, Nikos Andritsakis, has given Riverdale a picture-postcard quality, filling it with bright colours and warm hues. The production design and the costume design teams too have done a wonderful job. The film has been designed as a musical, with songs replacing dialogue in key scenes. While the songs are catchy and do complement the film, they don’t make an impact outside of the film’s narrative. While the plot is predictable, the writing, especially the portions which revolve around friendship, has been fresh and breezy. They smack of real relationships between a group of teenagers. Another good thing is that while the film does tilt a bit towards Archie, Betty and Veronica, the others too get their moment in the sun. It showcases proper group dynamics, with some being more dominant than the others but at the end, everyone is a friend.

It isn’t just a launch vehicle for starkids like Agastya Nanda, Khushi Kapoor and Suhana Khan but brings the others – Mihir Ahuja, Vedang Raina, Aditi Dot and Yuvraj Menda into the limelight as well. The director must have taken lots of workshops with them because they not only seem like real friends on screen but also come across as seasoned performers, rather than newbies. Suhana grows on you as the film progresses and so does Vedang. Yuvraj has a more layered role to play and does it effortlessly. Dot makes for a fine Ethel as well. Khushi comes across as a natural on screen and so does Agastya. While he can be said to be the find of the film, each of these super confident kids have a great future ahead of them.

Watch the film for the dose of nostalgia that it provides. It makes you yearn for your school/college days and for a life which was simple yet perfect.

Trailer : The Archies