Zoya Akhtar reveals how she trained Suhana Khan, Khushi Kapoor, Agastya Nanda to deal with negativity, nepotism talk: ‘Do your job’

Zoya Akhtar said all the six kids "started from scratch" for The Archies, which included reading the comics, watching musicals of the 60s and undergoing several workshops.

Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar has directed the upcoming Netflix live-action musical The Archies. (Photo: Zoya Akhtar/Instagram)

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Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar has a simple word of advice: Focus on your work, don’t worry about what people think of you. The filmmaker is gearing up for her latest Netflix feature The Archies, which stars six newcomers, including three star kids, Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana, megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s grandson Agastya and actor Sridevi and film producer Boney Kapoor’s daughter Khushi.

The live action musical, also starring Mihir Ahuja, Dot., Vedang Raina and Yuvraj Menda, is set to drop on the streaming platform soon. While its release date isn’t locked yet, the makers recently unveiled its first trailer at the Netflix Tudum event in Brazil.

Also Read | Shah Rukh Khan on daughter Suhana Khan-starrer The Archies: ‘Father bias and excitement will always be there…’

In an interview with Film Companion, Zoya was asked how has she trained the star kids in terms of preparing them for rough moments — negativity, talk about nepotism — when the film releases. The filmmaker said, “See at the end of the day, we all grow up. We all grow up wanting to follow our dreams. When you grow up in a house with parents you admire, you just end up doing things they do. It is as simple as that. Who is anyone to say, ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do that.'”

When asked further how has she given them the training in how to deal with that when they step into public, Zoya added, “You don’t. You have to roll with the punches. You have to go out there, you have to keep your head down and work hard. At the end of the day, if you do your job well, you will be unstoppable.

“Do your job, that’s it, everything else… I just bubble myself, I focus on what I have to do, and if I do it well or honestly, it will find its audience. You can’t control anything but yourself. You can’t control what people say, think, if they like you or they don’t. You can just control what you put out. So that’s what you should do– focus, be a Jedi.”

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The filmmaker said all the six kids “started from scratch” for The Archies, which included reading the comics, watching musicals of the 60s and undergoing several workshops. As debutants, Zoya said the actors were also trained how to act for the camera and understanding the technicalities of it.

“They had to read the comics obviously, because it’s not their generation, I gave them countless films to watch from the period, teenage films, musicals, just different tonalities. They did acting workshops, dance workshops, singing workshops, they had to do skating, swimming, cycling.

“Then we did an entire workshop with them with camera, had to explain to them because it is a very technical job. So catching the light, hitting the mark, what does it mean to give shoulder, to be in a close up, to be in a wide shot, action continuity, what is set protocol. They went to school. They came to set trained.”