Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar, who directed Netflix’s The Archies, talked about whether she ever called Shah Rukh Khan to the sets to give a ‘pep talk’ to his daughter Suhana Khan who marked her debut with the series. She also opened up about casting Shah Rukh Khan in her directorial debut Luck By Chance.
The actor played himself in the film and appears in a crucial scene – after Farhan Akhtar’s character Vikram Jaisingh’s first film becomes successful, he meets Shah Rukh at a party where the latter tells him to never forget the people who stood by him before he was famous.
When asked if she wrote the dialogues keeping the actor in mind, Akhtar told Mid-day,
“I think you also see it with him (Shah Rukh Khan). I think he’s quite rooted, his old friends, you know, the people that gave him a break, the people that stood by him, he stands by. I think, you know, it’s just that guy, so it just came with him.”Zoya Akhtar to Mid-day
Speaking of the time she and Reema Kagti decided to work on the script for a short film together, Akhtar recalled, “We almost killed each other—let’s do this, let’s not do that, etc. Later, I wrote Luck By Chance (2009). Reema started writing Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd (2007). We gave our scripts to each other for feedback. She finished the portions I got stuck at. Likewise, me with Honeymoon. While we hadn’t credited each other, we were in each other’s films."
Since then, Akhtar has directed work like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Dil Dhadakne Do, Gully Boy and a short in the Lust Stories anthology. In 2023, Akhtar directed a feature film adaptation of the popular Archies comics. The film starred Suhana Khan, Vedang Raina, Agastya Nanda, Khushi Kapoor, Mihir Ahuja, and Yuvraj Menda among others.
When asked if she ever called Shah Rukh to the sets to interact with the cast, Akhtar said, “No, I wouldn’t. I mean, no, because I’ve worked with newcomers. I’ve worked with Siddhant Chaturvedi, I’ve worked with various newcomers. You don’t call in someone and say, ‘Give them a pep talk.’ You just don’t do that.”
Speaking of ‘pep talks’, Akhtar reiterated, “No, that’s my job. I can’t give my job to someone else. That’s what I’m meant to do.”
The Archies is streaming on Netflix.
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