Tag: Zoya Akhtar

  • How did Zoya Akhat prep ‘The Archies’ actors for the film?

    How did Zoya Akhat prep ‘The Archies’ actors for the film?

    Famed Indian director Zoya Akhtar is set to release her Netflix film ‘The Archies’ on December 7 on the streaming giant. The film stars babies from all the royal acting families of Bollywood: Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor, Vedang Raina, Agastya Nanda, Mihir Ahuja, Aditi Saigal and Yuvraj Menda. In an interview with Vogue, the ‘Made In Heaven’ creator opened up about how she prepped all the newcomers for the film and how they became close friends with one another.

    Speaking to Vogue, Akhtar said she set up an intense boot camp, and made the actors go through acting workshops, dance training and everything else.

    “I wanted them to be comfortable from the get-go. There are 200 people on set, there’s a camera in your face and you have to go up and perform when the word ‘action’ is said. It’s daunting.”

    She added, “I wanted them to be over all of that by the time they came to set, so it was very important for them to get along with one another. There was this big boot camp where they had dance classes, acting workshops and cinematography training.”

    Zoya also revealed she was happy the actors became close friends with each other, and hoped they championed each other through the course of their careers:

    “I hope they champion each other throughout the course of their respective careers because they’ve been so good – they’ve been good for each other and they’ve been good with each other.”

    When the trailer was released on social media platforms, many criticised how all the actors came from acting families, and the fact that all the characters were fair skinned and didn’t look Indian. Speaking to Mid-Day at TUDUM, Zoya addressed the backlash saying:

    “Why do you think that? They’re all Indian. This is kind of reverse (racism). Are you saying fair Indians are not Indians? How do we define what an Indian looks like? It could be Hrithik Roshan, it could be Mr. Rajinikanth, it could be Diljit Dosanjh, it could be Mary Kom. That’s the beauty of India. There are a lot of Indians that are light-skinned.”

  • Zoya Akhtar responds to backlash over Muslim representation in her films

    Zoya Akhtar responds to backlash over Muslim representation in her films

    Zoya Akhtar has been long criticised by social media users for the manner in which Muslims are represented in her films and dramas. The critically acclaimed series ‘Made In Heaven’, airing on Amazon Prime, prompted several users to criticise the director, who is the sister of actor Farhan Akhtar and daughter of Javed Akhtar, for episode 6. The criticism focused on the aspect that only polygamy marriages among Muslims are depicted rather the oppression or violence the community suffers from in India. The episode focuses on a woman Shehnaz, who attempts to kill herself after her husband gets married for the second time.

    On Instagram, Zoya finally responded by responding to a commentator who asked her to show positive Muslim characters, and stop relying on regressive stereotypes.

    The ‘Dil Dhadhakne Do’ director answered by listing several films where she had Muslim characters like Gully Boy, ‘Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara’, ‘Luck By Chance’:

    “Zaffar Khan and Tanveer in Luck By Chance. Imran and Laila in ZNMD. Farah Ali in Dil Dhadakne Do. Practically everyone in Gully Boy. Sarfaraz Khan and Leila Shirazi, Kabir, Faiza and Nawab have in Made In Heaven.”

  • Dalit author slams ‘Made In Heaven’ creators for stealing ideas without credit

    Dalit author slams ‘Made In Heaven’ creators for stealing ideas without credit

    Warning: spoilers

    The second season of the critically acclaimed Amazon series ‘Made In Heaven’ came back on screen after a four year break, exploring darker topics like domestic violence, colorism, and transphobia. However, the show has been accused of plagiarising content. Social media users are demanding that show runners Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti give credit to a Dalit author.

    The episode ‘The Heart Skips A Beat’ received critical acclaim for featuring a Dalit woman getting married in to a Buddhist man in an inter-caste ceremony. However, many who watched the episode observed the close resemblance between the female protagonist, Pallavi Menke, a Dalit author who writes a book ‘Coming Out’ narrating her experiences as a Dalit- to the real life author Yashica Dutt, who had written the same book. Dutt has taken to Instagram to address the controversy.

    On her Instagram post, Yashica shared a picture of the Dalit wedding, calling the depiction a triumph, but also demanded that show creators stop stealing the works of minority communities and to formally give her credit for her work.

    “Before I came out as Dalit in 2016, there was no vocabulary to identify the process of revealing your Dalitness after hiding it for years and owning it with pride either. Today, in 2023, there is both. Dalit directors like Neeraj Ghaywan have revolutionised our cinematic language by showcasing unapologetic Dalits in Bollywood, a tradition that has an even longer history in Southern cinema,” wrote the author.

    “;The Heart Skipped a Beat’, the fifth episode of Prime Video’s Made in Heaven is no less than a cinematic triumph, when it comes to showcasing what it truly looks like for a Dalit woman to take her power back in this casteist society.”

    Addressing the issue, Dutt wrote it was empowering to witness a woman on the popular series speak about how her grandmother used to scrub toilets, and asserts her self before her partner. But she did not see the director giving her credit.

    “The scene where the Dalit author, who is from Columbia, has written a book about ‘coming out’ and talks about her grandmother ‘manually cleaning toilets’, asserts her selfhood with her life partner-to-be, gave me chills. It was surreal to see a version of my life on screen that was not, but yet was still me. But soon the heartbreak set in. They were my words, but my name was nowhere… The ideas I cultivated, that are my life’s work, that I continue to receive immense hate for just speaking, were taken without permission or credit.”

    “Dalit’s have a long history of being taken from, erased, ignored, obliterated from our own stories. Dalit women in particular are the easiest to take from , what’s the worth in their labor they’ve created anyway. It’s for everybody to claim.

    Except this time, I’m reclaiming my work, my worth and my contribution to the discourse and history, defying the order of what’s expected of me as a woman who is supposed to fine tune the ‘register of her rage’.”

  • ‘Made In Heaven’ comes back with a bang in second season, critics praise sinister take on Big Fat Indian Wedding

    ‘Made In Heaven’ comes back with a bang in second season, critics praise sinister take on Big Fat Indian Wedding

    Warning: spoilers if you havent seen season 1

    Eid came a little too early for social media users when on August 10, the much awaited sequel to the critically acclaimed Amazon Prime series ‘Made In Heaven’ released online. The nine episode drama focuses on the lives of Delhi wedding planners Tara and Karan, as they attempt to build a brand name for themselves in the cut-throat world of India’s wedding industry.

    Created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, the season was lauded for the powerful performances by Sobhita Dhulipala and Arjun Mathur, as well as for boldly bringing to light issues like cast prejudice and sexual assault.

    This time, the second season promised to be quite a show-stopper as Karan decides to stop living in shame because of his sexual orientation and Tara decides to take her ex-husband Adil to court to get a good settlement in divorce. The two were left grappling with loss as their business is torn to shreds after a mob attacks it because of Karan’s support to decriminalize homosexuality. And critics, along with social media, had to agree, kay dair aye laikan drust aye.

    Indian drama critics have praised the show for delivering beyond their expectations, and bringing the four year long restlessness to a solid conclusion. The Indian Express praised the show-stopping performances by Sobhita, Jim Sarbh and Marthur, praising the skills with which Akhtar, Kagti and their collaborators “detail their characters and fill them in with specificity, reflect a sense of inner knowledge and empathy, which makes you curious about what’s going on behind their perfect exteriors.”

    If the first season was praised for addressing bold themes like same sex relationships, infidelity and ageism, NDTV commented that the new season dwleves even deeper by casting a transgender actor to play a career woman who has had a gender-reassignment surgery and is proud of being in her own skin.

    Writing for Film Companion, Rahul Desai praised Made In Heaven for remaining “a rare series that isn’t afraid to present its characters as paradoxical and unlikable.”

  • Delays in ‘Jee Le Zaraa’ shoot: Priyanka out, Anushka in?

    Delays in ‘Jee Le Zaraa’ shoot: Priyanka out, Anushka in?

    The Indian film news site ‘Moviefied Bollywood’ has reported that Priyanka Chopra has walked away from the anticipated female-led film ‘Jee Le Zaraa’, costarring Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt, after inordinate delays.

    The site has also reported that Anushka Sharma and Kiara Advani are being considered for the role.

    Since the post went viral on social media, fans are jumping in to recommend their ideal Bollywood actress to do justice to the role, with the majority of people wanting to see Deepika Padukone in the role.

    “Get Deepika instead, and this should be fun… the publicity will be unreal,” one user wrote.

    Chopra had taken to Instagram in 2021 to announce the film ‘Je Lee Zaraa’ which was inspired by the idea of having an all-girls movie which would celebrate friendship, and then she had later shared this idea with her two real-life close friends Alia Bhatt and Katrina, who had agreed to come on board.

  • Aryan Khan to debut as screenwriter reportedly for Amazon Prime

    Aryan Khan to debut as screenwriter reportedly for Amazon Prime

    Bollywood superstar, Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan is reportedly planning to make his debut as a screenwriter for the streaming site, Amazon Prime and Red Chillies Entertainment.

    According to Pinkvilla, Aryan has been working on various ideas which might be turned into a web series or feature film.

    Closed sources revealed, “Of all the ideas in development, the two in the forefront is a web series for Amazon Prime and a feature film to be bankrolled by Red Chillies Entertainment. The Amazon Prime series is said to be about the life of a die-hard fan with some elements of thrill, however, the details of feature films are not known yet. If everything proceeds at the right pace, there’s a strong possibility of the show being greenlit by the platform this year itself.”

     Currently, scripts are in the initial stages of development. He is also collaborating with writer Bilal Siddiqi for the same production house. Once the script meets all the requirements of Amazon Prime, the streaming service will likely premiere the project.

    Last year, Aryan Khan graduated from the University of Southern California (USC). He was awarded a degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts, Cinematic Arts, Film and Television production.

    Recently, Suhana Khan, daughter of Shahrukh Khan is also making her acting debut in Zoya Akhtar’s directorial film for the streaming site, Netflix. The story is based on Archie Comics.

  • Katrina, Priyanka and Alia set to headline Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Jee Le Zara’

    Katrina, Priyanka and Alia set to headline Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Jee Le Zara’

    On the account of 20 Years of Farhan Akhtar’s debut directorial venture Dil Chahta Hai, he announced his next directorial project Jee Le Zara.

    The film is based on a ‘road trip’ of three best friends that are to be essayed by Bollywood superstars Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra and Alia Bhatt.

    The three leading ladies are collaborating for the first time, Katrina also featured as the leading lady in Excel’s last road trip, the Blockbuster Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

    Sharing the first look at the film, Alia wrote, “Did someone say road trip?”

    Similarly, Katrina also took to her social media to reveal the poster.

    While Priyanka wrote a long note explaining her journey of the film’s pre-production.

    Farhan told Variety that, “It’s a road film, a slice-of-life film, with three women on the road.”

    The film is written by Farhan, Zoya Akhtar, and Reema Kagti and is co-produced by Excel Entertainment and Tiger Baby Productions.

    The team starts shooting in September 2022.