Director Zoya Akhtar recently appeared on the popular American talk show, The Daily Show, to promote her latest film, The Archies. Zoya discussed a range of topics with host Kal Penn, including her experiences working with father Javed Akhtar and brother Farhan Akhtar, inclusivity in her films, and the Indian paparazzi.

Zoya lauds Indian paparazzi on the the popular American talk show, The Daily Show

Zoya recalled a humorous memory of when she hosted Kal Penn in Mumbai. She said, “My dog attacked Brie cheese from your plate and then he choked on it. And I was like, ‘My dog is going to die.’ And Kal was standing there, thinking, ‘What’s going on?’ Then my assistant had to flip my dog to get the Brie out of his mouth. It was a chaotic Mumbai night.”

Discussing the Indian paparazzi, Zoya expressed appreciation for them, and shared a personal incident. She said, “I was at an event where I feel down, and I was like, ‘Please don’t put these pictures out.’ They were like, ‘We won’t’, and they didn’t. They’re very sweet.”

The Archies Director, Zoya Akhtar

In The Archies, Zoya has incorporated an inclusive message, she said, “In 2018, homosexuality was decriminalised and since then there has been so much positive change. A part of that evolution is filmmaking and somewhere I feel that through this medium you are humanising the other, you’re making people come closer. Stories travel, they stay longer. I’m lucky to part of the community that can affect some change.”

When asked about working with Farhan Akhtar and father Javed Akhtar, Zoya said, “This is my fifth film that they are on. It’s safe and dangerous, because it’s an honest space, so you will get the truth. But that’s dangerous sometimes because it leads to fights at the dinner table.” Farhan wrote the Hindi dialogues for The Archies and Javed Akhtar wrote lyrics for several of the film’s songs.