Agastya Nanda and Khushi Kapoor did not know how to use rotary phone and record player, recalls Zoya Akhtar: ‘These were like stunts’

Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies is all set to release on Netflix in December. The director, who marked her presence at the International Film Festival of Goa, headed a masterclass, where she opened up about shooting the film with a new cast. The cast includes Agastya Nanda as Archie Andrews, Khushi Kapoor as Betty Cooper, Suhana Khan as Veronica Lodge, Vedang Raina as Reggie Mantel, Dot. (Aditi Saigal) as Ethel Muggs, and Yuvraj Menda as Dilton Doiley.

Zoya recalled how there were instances where she felt ‘old’ and said, “The story was really simple. There were many funny things that happened on the sets. So there is one shot and Betty, being played by Khushi Kapoor, has to pick up the needle and put it on the vinyl, which is the record player, so we are there behind the camera and we see her picking it up and putting it in the center. I was like ‘what are you doing?’ She was like, ‘Isn’t that where the music comes from?’ I said, ‘no.’ And you realise how young they are.”

The director also recalled shooting with Agastya and said, “And Archie (played by Agastya) had to pick up the phone and dial and he was like ‘do I dial first and then pick up?’ I was like, how old am I? I asked him, ‘Have you never used it?’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Have you never seen them in films?’ He sill said, ‘no.’ These were like stunts.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Zoya Akhtar (@zoieakhtar)

However, Zoya said that they are very excited about the film and added, “For them it’s like their first outing and they are a big gang. They are very excited, very nervous, we are two weeks away and now suddenly it’s hitting them that ‘this is it.’”

The Archies will release on Netflix on December 7.