New Delhi: Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar recently shared the first poster as well as an announcement video of her upcoming film The Archies. The movie featuring all fresh talents will be released on Netflix in 2023. Besides, several starkids will make their debut with this film among them are Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor, and Agastya Nanda.
With the release of the announcement video, the film is facing several criticisms about nepotism. However, apart from that, this time’s criticism took a different form. Many netizens are pin-pointing the influence of “western culture” shown in the video.
One of the users stated, “Ridiculous to see Indian people faking western culture from 1900s I mean common grow up showing how westernized you are won’t change your skin tone to Caucasian you’ll still remain brown lol .. stop this propaganda of spreading unnecessary western culture.”
#BoycottBollywood
Ridiculous to see Indian people faking western culture from 1900s I mean common grow up showing how westernized you are won’t change your skin tone to Caucasian you’ll still remain brown lol .. stop this propaganda of spreading unnecessary western culture https://t.co/ZK3q4puQsz— Yash ???? (@Patelthepatriot) May 14, 2022
While another one wrote that the Indian actors looked like they hailed from the West. “Nepotism debate aside, I’m more concerned that they tried to make a group of Indian kids look white,” the user wrote.
Nepotism debate aside, I’m more concerned that they tried to make a group of Indian kids look white https://t.co/mKvDOFudVu
— cher (@gcrazyxb) May 14, 2022
See some of the reactions here:
every time this comes up on my feed it baffles me how netflix in the west is doing more for dark skin south asian representation (w shows like never have i ever, bridgerton & sex education) than netflix india… https://t.co/vVFKzyqK4F
— Rach (@rachelfernando_) May 16, 2022
what in the lightskin is going on here https://t.co/tH7GGyZGab
— señor lechuga ? (@vibesssk) May 15, 2022
I have no idea how something brown managed to look so American https://t.co/xz4FJsWxeR
— shahrukh (@RukhiShaikh) May 15, 2022
Literally looks like a Westside advertisement, but with extra fake smiles https://t.co/jDOVk7X8mr
— smர்ர்ர்ர்ர்ர்ர் (@tatatatoddd) May 15, 2022
Peak desi goal is to lead white people lives. Just look at dudes wearing white shorts https://t.co/Jn8OsFFNYb
— B.Iqbal (@bok_iq) May 15, 2022
Really great to see Subana Khan as the pseudo black representative in this pseudo western wanna be white cast of a riverdale rip off movie.?#Archies #Bollywood https://t.co/UP7T9pmmWe
— Tarun Sharma (@tarun8198) May 15, 2022
Found Zoya Aktar’s screening criteria tool
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???? https://t.co/67UWSey7E7 pic.twitter.com/OIL9itYbV3
— Varun Maturkar (@MaturkarVarun) May 15, 2022
How come they all are white??
They talk about inclusion,colorism etc etc but would put make up and turn brown skin people white. https://t.co/rmQNMxNK5i— Akanksha Badaya ? (@art_lover_09) May 16, 2022
This ain’t an ad for united colors of benetton? https://t.co/20Xeb2s71R
— commie (@facistmodiishot) May 15, 2022
bhay this looks like a Myntra autumn sale ad ???? https://t.co/cyFPdrJjwI
— haarbor ? (@harbir29) May 14, 2022
Just saw an ad of ‘The Archies’ by Zoya Akhtar with a handful of star kids dressed as Europeans, how disconnected from your country do you need to be to make such films?
— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) May 14, 2022
Zoya Akhtar announced her association with this project through an Instagram post. The announcement post was designed to reorganise the pages of a comic book, culminating in the characters staring at a board that says, “The Archies, a film by Zoya Akhtar. Coming to Netflix.” Sharing the post, Zoya captioned, “The Archies, a film by Zoya Akhtar. Coming to Netflix.” In the caption, she wrote, “Archie and the Crew are about to get Down and Desi! ‘The Archies’. A coming-of-age musical drama directed by me. Coming soon to Netflix.”
The character Archie Andrews was created by John L Goldwater and artist Bob Montana in 1941. The character first appeared in the Pep Comics and soon became an iconic character in pop culture across the world. The Archie comic has acquired several adaptations through films and cartoon series all across the globe.
