Zoya Akhtar On Netflix's "The Archies" | Vir Das on “Landing” & Demonstrating Love with Laughter

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My guest tonight is a filmmaker and a screenwriter who directed and co wrote The Archies on Netflix. Please welcome Zoya Aktar.

Wow.

It's a lot of wooing.

Yeah, and I know why you are.

You are one of one of the top five, if not like the top director coming out of India right now, which is no small feat given how much incredible talent there is between Bollywood and the streaming platforms and independent cinema. I'm also biased and the soul cinema for us, I sort of. I mean, you're in America, so everybody views it as the whole subcontinence. But I think I'm biased because we've also been been friends for years. You pat me over to your home for dinner.

Do you remember that night?

Yes?

I do, of course I do. Are we gonna Are we gonna share that night?

Yeah?

What do you What do you remember about that night?

I remember that my dog almost killed himself on my dog, Yes, attacked the bree from your plate.

Yes, I did have play. Yeah, and then you had to light.

And he choked, and then I was like, my dog's gonna die. My dog's gonna die. Boogie's gonna die and that cat and was staring at what's going on? And then my assistant flipped him around and he.

But not before, not before he like inadvertently beat you right, and then you had to call your vet to be like do I need rabies in jaery?

No, he was like freaking out because he was choking. I was trying to like, yeah, it was, it was.

It was a chaotic my night.

Yeah. Yeah.

I mean I feel like that goes hand in hand with going to Mumbai. It's like beautiful chaos that will follow you everywhere. The the Bollywood press has always been very kind to me. They're also like super dramatic, which I secretly yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And there was one I remember we did this press drunken for something and they said, so some clicks. So I was like, okay, take some photos. And I remember like just going like this and there was a couch behind me and this

Light out like this.

And I'm like, bro, I can't because the picture will be everywhere. I'm like, I know, That's why I can't light out like that so like, do you have any really good Bollywood paparazzi stores?

Yeah, I mean they they they are. They're actually really sweet, you know what I mean. They're not They're not that invasive in that sense. But they will say very random things like I'll get off a car and they'll be like, man, full end, give me full lent.

I'm like, how could this is my lend? This is it? I can't give you anymore, so stuff like that. But they're like, I've actually been at an event where I felt down and.

I was like, please don't put this out and they were like, we won't and they didn't.

So yeah, they're very sweet, so tonight come out.

Yeah, No, they are. They are very Ian. Look, anyone who refers to Nick Jonas as Judges is doing well. I think in our book a resume is diverse as yours. I'm curious what drew you to an adaptation of a comic like The Archiees.

I mean, Netflix offered it to me, and I grew That's a good start.

Pretty ball and response.

By the way, that's great, you know, I grew up.

I mean it's it's it's crazy that something so fundamentally American was also fundamentally a part of an urban Indian kid's childhood. And I grew up in the eighties and India wasn't liberalized at that time in global so there was we didn't have access to as what stuff that we do today, and Archie was one of the few things that everybody read and it was a portal to this country.

So everybody it was like, and we were.

Eight and ten and we just wanted this teenage life in this fictional place called Riverdhill.

And everybody grew up thinking that's America.

And then I mean, obviously then we grew up and realized that's not America. But when it came to me, it was also at a time when I thought that it would be nice to do something like a return to innocence, you know.

And it was kind of beautiful that.

It came to India because it was so special and they wanted the industry in India to make it for the world, and yeah, I just can't say no. It was also like something to go back to less is more time.

Yeah, yeah, Well it's a beautiful film. I highly recommend it. One of my favorite scenes was between Dilton and Reggie. It's this very special scene about friendship at a time. I don't want to ruin the whole thing, but where you know, Dilton's character is sort of scared to come out to his friends, and the friendship with with Reggie's kind of codified. Yeah, I guess two questions for you on that, What made you want to write a seem

I mean stories are very important, and I mean India has a very very vibrant LGBT community and twenty eighteen homosexuality was decriminalized and there's been so much change and real positive change with that, and it's going to keep evolving. And part of that evolution is storytelling and filmmaking. And somewhere I feel it's not just like, oh, we're representing something, but you are. You're putting people into You're taking someone and putting them in someone else's shoes.

You know, you're humanizing the other.

You're just making people come closer like stories travel and stories stay longer, and I don't know, they just they move you and shift you. And I think I'm lucky to be part of that community that CANU like that can affect some kind of evolution or change and represent and be there.

And you know, see how I feel.

You're embarrassing, But also the fact that inclusivity is is obviously noticed and and people love it, especially when it's when it's such a great form of included in such a great form of storytelling. You're you worked with your dad and your brother in this movie. Both of them

I mean, it's not this is like my fifth film that they're on.

They work on my work in some capacity or the other, and it's uh, it's safe and also the most dangerous because I mean, it's an honest space, so you'll get the truth. But that's dangerous sometimes because that leads to fights at the dinner table.

But they're both.

Incredibly talented men, and I am supremely lucky to have that resource, as is my mother.

She's a writer as well.

So between the we all right, So it's it's pretty manic dinners manic.

It sounds like you can't leave your work at home. No, last couple of questions I just asked, because I'm a huge Bollywood fan like you are. You've worked in all these different mediums, like top three favorite people that you would want to work.

With again again?

Wow, I guess for the first time.

Okay again, let me just take again. I think I'm going to take the actors I've worked with.

I think Roscha for sure, I'm dying to work with him again.

Far hahn Oc there, I haven't worked with him, and run Beer saying yeah, I'll about three of them in a movie.

I mean, could you do four? I mean I'm available, happening. Would you, By the way, this is now just strictly for my paycheck, would you do like a Bollywood adaptation of Harold.

And Kamar, I'd love to, you would love to Let's.

Make that happen.

That would be really fun.

This would be huge.

I mean I meant it as a half choke, but if we're serious, we should talk backstage.

That's how I'm gonna stop.

All right, I'm down for this.

My guest tonight is a comedian and actor. He just won an International Emmy for his Netflix stand up special Landing. Please welcome Veer the.

Hey brother.

Man.

You clearly have some fancier congrats on the International Emmy.

Thank you. Yeah, it is Uh, it is on sale if anyone interests. What was I like? Uh, it was surreal, you know, to with two things.

Number one, it was just kind of nice to have that many people listen to an Indian story from across the world.

So that was very nice. It was an honor. And then the first thought was, how the hell do I get this through JFK?

Uh?

Because it is very sharp and you can you can murder.

Someone with an international enemy, which doesn't happen at.

The after party.

It's just uh, And I'm typically used to being like very nervous at JFK. Anyway, Sure, so I just and when you have that statue with like the late it's like I've metaphorically kidnapped a white lady. So so the guy was just like, what's in the bag And I was like, it's an international Emmy. And the guy at TSA was like, oh, word, and I was like, okay, precipitation because that's a word.

I'm kidding. That didn't happened before the New York of fact checks me.

Yeah, it's a daily show, Nobod's gonna fact yeh.

That's fine.

Right. Yeah, So look, this win was special, I assume because based on your stand up specially you thought at a point that your career was over. You were called a terrorist, there were criminal charges that were filed against you for the twenty twenty one poem to India's that was like a gripping reflective account of political and social

Well, I mean, the central theme of the special I think is that that love is never yelled, love is felt, and that includes love for your country, where it's never sort of a loud proclamation, it's kind of a quiet demonstration. And I don't think there's a better demonstration of love than laughter.

And I think that that.

You know, you know, if you love someone, you want to make them laugh, and if they love you, they laugh back.

And that goes for your country too.

But I was at the center of this controversy, and I'm a small fish, so I'm not accustomed to that kind of limelight. And I think in America, for instance, if you're a big fish and you're in a controversy, there are options, right, so you can go on Oprah,

The British say? I said, do you know how badly before the British say that? You divide it in there.

But what happens then, the point I'm making is a bad day in your life turns into laughter. And I think happiness blooms when it's watched, and so you get to watch people be happy because of that, and then that turns into a gold statue someday and you kind of you're kind of reminded that comedy, this job on its best day, can sometimes be alchemy, and it's kind of nice.

Yeah, that's awesome, it's very well said. The whole British thing reminded me. You know, my grandparents were secular freedom fighters, and so those were the stories that we heard growing up as kids and that obviously influenced me later in life. Recently, Prime Minister Mode was hosted by President Biden and during that visit, a lot of artists in the South Asian

Look, I mean on one day, our Prime Minister had dinner with Biden and the next day Trevor Noah had dinner with du Alipa and I wasn't invited to either of those events. So I do think if you get to travel the world as much as I do, you start to think of freedom of speech, which is the big conversation around.

The world, less locally and more emotionally.

And I think right now it's you know, whether you're in the Middle East, whether you're in India, whether you're in the West, the conversation is freedom of speech. And I think it's yes, curtailed by authorities at different levels in different places, but more curtailed by the people around you. You know, we live in this world where you see somebody as just a box and you could you try and control their speech as well for their ideas. And so sometimes we blame it on these larger things above us,

Which guy?

Just it's New York, so fIF the compartment. Yeah, but.

You and I can't do anything about the guy with his dickout. I' s talking to.

See if you see it too.

Yeah, And I think that's what freedom of speech is.

I just need to know that you also see the dick.

I just I have to give you so much props for this, because this could have gone in two different directions. This could have this could have ended up with like the New York Times, Bombay Times, Times about all of them just writing about some serious political conversation. And instead it's like cal Penn and Verdas are on the train with a dude whose dick is out and that's that's it. Yeah, thank you, thank you really just elevating the shoe in it.

So I forgive you flowers, though, Can I take a second to give you flowers if that's okay?

Yes, okay.

So the reason that many brown men like myself come to America to try and act is because we saw you be the first Indian brown man be edgy and cool and funny in American cinema.

So yeah, thank you.

So I would like to thank you for ruining so many lives because I came to college in America because I saw Van.

Wild And then I went to.

College in Gailsburg, Illinois, and I'm like, what is this college where people sleep with the Indian guys?

Kalpen is a liar.

And just by the way, I think you know this, Statistically, this is the sexiest accent in the world.

All right.

I'm just said, all right, at this given moment, more women are having sex with this accent than any other accident in the work.

All right, So in your face, France. And also.

You then do Harold and Kumar where you go and get cheeseburgers and at the night at the end of the night, you make up with your parents. Do you know what would happen if I told my parents I spent the whole night looking for beef. Harold would go to white Castle. Kumar would have an arranged marriage the next week.

Flowers.

Well, thanks brother, thank you. And I have to say that, you know, there were many very talented actors who came before me, who didn't have the same opportunities I did, who also went to drama school, who also worked their butts off, and so I appreciate those those accolades, and I share it with them, you know, before we let you go. I also I want to know about your tour. It's a thirty three country tour. It is a I want to know where you're going in the new tour.

No?

I think now it's kind of because of netflixes and amazons and youtubes, it's become more important to kind of be authentically Indian. Dave Chappelle gets to take you to Ohio. I don't know a damn thing about Ohio.

But I go.

On that journey with him. Why can't I take you to Mumbai? Why can't I take you to Delhi? And if you've never been, come over and at the end of the night, whether you're Indian or not, you'll be Indian, you know.

So come to my show.

I I'm going to be playing Carnegie Hall.

I think I'll be the first Indian comic.

To do it, all right, Yeah, congrats, And we're doing the Kennedy Center and the Chicago Theater and a bunch of theaters in January. I'm looking forward to it. It's large, you know.

Congrats. Can't wait, can't to check out the tour. You're developing a comedy with my buddy Andy Samberg.

Yes, you tell us about it. I can, Okay. I wanted to be in a TV show.

There was a modern immigration story, but I wanted it because immigrants will always come over and do sensible stuff in America, right, And why take a twenty nine hour flight if you're going to do something sensible when you land. So I wanted to make the show where Americans and Indians sit on a sofa and watch together, but Indians get to come over and be outrageous and ludicrous and

Yes, I'm a huge country music fan, so that makes me. That makes me very excited. On your shows, you always end asking people in your audience, what's the one thing you want to say to the world. Yeah, why do you do that? I just think it's so interesting.

I have I think, one of the smartest crowds in comedy, and I say that to get their money.

I I just do.

I think a lot of comedy these days becomes about look at me, and look at my jokes, and look at my pathoss and my ethos. But you know, the audiences and equally loud voices you do, and I think there's no better teacher than their laughter and their silence. So sometimes I just like to put the camera on them and say, look at who I have the privilege of performing for. And some of it is great, and some of it is you.

Know what it is.

But but I think it's valuable to share your platform with your audience.

Sometimes that's the only reason I do it.

Do you do you still to with Juhu beach sand I?

Okay, so in the special I have some Indian soil. Look, I'm I'm a brown man with a beard, so traveling with a bag full.

Of dust.

Internationally it doesn't work out well for me anally, but I.

I try to.

Look, my shows are like this big reunion. You know, if you're not from India, you get integrated into India. If you're Indian, you sometimes haven't been in a room full of Indians in a really long time.

Do you know how many people hook up at my shows?

Like this is the best at ever?

Right? Yeah, listen, I'm like Seema Auntie with a jawline.

All right, That's that's who I am, right, Like, I have couples that are formed at my shows.

So it's this big India celebration. It's kind of cool.

Man.

That's that's awesome. Thank you so much for coming here. We'll be Performer's my for so Carnegie Hall on January nineteenth. More stops in the US and January and February Bear Daughts Everyone.

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