‘The Archies’ director Zoya Akhtar criticises media for focusing on star kids: ‘We had 7 kids in trailer'

Filmmakers Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, who are gearing up for the release of their film ‘The Archies’, said that the media is being hypocritical about the nepotism debate, as it chose to focus on star kids-Agastya Nanda, Suhana Khan, and Khushi Kapoor- while ignoring the other four actors- Dot, Yuvraj Menda, Mihir Ahuja and Vedang Raina.

In an interview with Film Companion, Zoya said, ‘This is my fifth film, this is not my first rodeo. You’ve seen my work, and I cast to what I think will work for the film, and will work for when you’re doing a theatrical for your budget. You have to balance it out. This was a Netflix film, I had no pressure. I could’ve cast anybody, and honestly, I didn’t need to do anything for once’.

Crticising the media, she continued, ‘What I find fascinating is this, there were seven kids on that poster. Netflix and Tiger Baby put seven kids on that poster, and the media only spoke about three, and then turns around and tells us about nepotism. Actually, you’re the one not giving the other four attention. You robbed their moment, that’s just heartbreaking to see. You took away their moment, I’m sorry, it’s your problem.’

Reema said, ‘I’ve had a lot of people say to me, ‘You’ve cast these star-kids’, and I tell them, ‘We had seven kids in the trailer, do you know the other four’s names? Did you bother to look at them?’ Because we are very excited about them. What happened was actually quite sad about the other four, and for the three (star-kids).’

For those unaware, Agastya Nanda is the grandson of actors Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, and the nephew of Abhishek Bachchan. Suhana Khan is the daughter of Gauri and Shah Rukh Khan. Khushi Kapoor is the younger daughter of Sridevi and Boney Kapoor, and the sister of Janhvi Kapoor.

‘The Archies’ is an adaptation of the popular comic book series of the same name. The seven actors play the famous gang of teenagers from the comics.

‘The Archies’ will be released on Netflix on December 7.

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