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Amid the ongoing debate around nepotism with the launch of three star kids in The Archies, Javed Akhtar has lauded Agastya Nanda for his debut in the Zoya Akhtar directorial. Akhtar said that while he tends to face criticism while praising his daughter Zoya, he has no reservations about admiring Agastya. Calling him one of the most brilliant emerging talents in the Hindi film industry since Rishi Kapoor over half a century ago, the noted lyricist emphasized that, like the late actor, Nanda also represents a more ‘masoom’ alternative to the prevalent macho image that heroes portray in today’s cinema.
Agastya Nanda is the grandson of megastar Amitabh Bachchan and the son of Shweta Bachchan Nanda-Nikhil Nanda. Alongside Agastya, The Archies also marks the debut of Sridevi-Boney Kapoor’s daughter Khushi Kapoor and Gauri Khan-Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan. The film has received widespread criticism from netizens, who have expressed loudly and clearly that these star kids do not have what it takes to be an actor or actress.
The Archies is a coming-of-age musical comedy based on the American comic book of the same name that follows a group of friends who navigate life while juggling friendship, love, and heartbreak in the fictional town of Riverdale.
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During a chat with Rediff, Javed Akhtar revealed that he told Agastya’s mother (Shweta Bachchan Nanda) that your son is going to be a star. “The concept of the hero so far has been of the toxic, macho man. Here is an unpretentious and masoom hero. Audiences have not seen a hero like Agastya since Rishi Kapoor in Bobby. Agastya will appeal to all youngsters, especially girls,” he further added.
The poet admitted that people who enjoy movies find it tempting to watch the children of Bollywood stars on screen. Sharing an instance, he said that during the premiere of the film, there was a 70-year-old lady who had tears in her eyes. “She said she was reminded of her young days when she was addicted to the Archies,” Akhtar said.
Javed Akhtar’s praise for Agastya Nanda did not go well with a section of netizens who took to Reddit to express their disappointment over his remarks.
“Sorry, but he had the charisma of a wooden log and barely even spoke dialogue properly. Seriously, has Zoya gone delusional? The casting is one of the biggest glaring drawbacks of Archies,” one user wrote.
Another user lamented, “Oh my god! The lengths these people go to shove these nepotis down everyone’s throat!! We haven’t yet recovered from Sara, Jhanvi, and Ananya. Spare us this new batch of nincompoops!”
A third went on to add, “Javed Akhtar hasn’t seen a single Bollywood film since Rishi Kapoor’s Bobby.”
“Zoya said in a few of her interviews that Agastya was the last one cast and that he himself wasn’t convinced he could pull it off. This gave me the impression that he isn’t that interested in acting and got pressured into it by his family and people like Zoya,” added a fourth Redditor.
A fifth commented, “Javed Akhtar is old. We can excuse him for having dementia.”
“Is it weird that the top 3 actors in the movie sounded like Kamal Hasan when saying Hindi dialogue? They were very comfortable with English lines. But it sounded like they had to smile wide and say the dialogue,” another netizen noted.
The Archies is currently streaming on Netflix.
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