Yup the gang is back! Our old friends
Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Moose and Reggie. I stopped reading the
comic books way back when I was about ten years old - the flirtations of
Archie, Betty and Veronica had lost their charm for me. But from what I understand
a lot of weird shit happened afterwards - if I recall Archie even dies, Veronica
gets on drugs and Betty has an abortion. Or maybe not. I just recall reading
that things did not go well for my comic book characters. And then of course
they returned in the TV show Riverdale for seven seasons and 137 episodes.
Hell, by the end the characters must have been ready for a vacation in Palm
Beach. Never saw any of those but I still have fond memories of Jughead and
even back then, I preferred the nice one Betty to the hot one Veronica. This
though is a Bollywood film with a ton of songs, dancing, teenage angst and
friends.
It is from by Zoya Akhtar, the director of the wonderful Gully Boy and the
big hit Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. She is the sister of Farhan Akhtar, the
director of the huge hit Dil Chahta Hai - and the daughter of one of the
more famous Bollywood writers, Javed Akhtar. Bollywood Royalty. But the film
must have felt like a get-together of Bollywood Royalty. Agastya Nanda
who plays Archie is the grandson of Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan. Suhana Khan
who plays Veronica is . . . the daughter of Shah Rukh Khan. And Betty is
played by Khushi Kapoor who is the daughter of Boney Kapoor and get this,
Sridevi. I love Sridevi and so my affection is passed on to her daughter.
Serious royalty in Bollywood. Born to privilege and an entry into films and
I thought all three were just fine especially considering that these were
close to their debuts. There is a lot of bitching though about nepotism on
the Internet - really? Bollywood has run on nepotism for generations and
I think bringing in a bunch of new attractive actors is what the industry
needs.
I thought the film was a big fat lollipop of color, style and youth. But
seemingly, I was one of the few. It crashed and burned in Bollywood with
a torrent of mediocre reviews like it was a bad tuna sandwich. I admit to
being flabbergasted by that. It has such high spirits, some of the best group
dance numbers I have seen from Bollywood and it is as innocent as an old-fashioned
Bollywood romance. No violence. No real villains. No sex (ok, a couple kisses).
Just a delightful grab of nostalgia. It is set in the mid-1960s.
Now admittedly, perhaps not nostalgia for most Indians and in an interesting
choice, most of the dialogue and songs are in English. Did most Indians even
get the film at all? Because the plot has been done many times and there
is no particular drama. Just high school kids trying to figure out life.
In English. I think it actually took me a few minutes of reading sub-titles
to realize they were all speaking English. But the film sets that up at the
beginning. After India gained its Independence, an Englishman married to
an Indian woman settles in the Highlands of India and becomes a beacon to
other Anglo-Indians who decided to stay. The whole town of Riverdale are
Anglo-Indians and they have built a postcard pretty town of small charming
shops, a beautiful park, an ice cream parlor where they all hang out. Everybody
knows everybody. The kind of town I would probably hate except amazingly
all the young females are very attractive. Veronica and Betty are knockouts.
Veronica has just come back from a long trip and has the newest record from
London. Wooly Bully! She puts it on during a party and bang - we have a great
dance number. Sam the Sham and Pharaohs would be proud. There really isn't
much to the plot - not enough to sustain its 140-minute running time - Archie
is a bit of a dick and a player - romancing both girls and then a third.
Betty and Veronica are the best of friends and are not happy when they find
out. Reggie who was the dick in the comics is the nicest guy here - even
sympathizing with a gay character. Jughead eats. A real-estate mogul wants
to build a hotel in their park and they fight back. He is Veronica's father.
A little drama there but it is mainly kids having fun. And any excuse for
music. Look out for the character named Ethel, real name Aditi
"Dot" Saigal. She writes and sings all those short songs that Betty sings.
There is also the music of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy who have done the music for
many of the Akhtar films. Most of the music is light and peppy and
sounds good. Zoya took a gamble here with a nostalgia that might mainly have
been hers and a set of young inexperienced actors. I hope its failure doesn't
hurt any of their careers because I found this to be a small joy.
