Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar joined this week’s host Kal Penn on the latest episode of The Daily Show. There, she talked about her latest release The Archies and even praised the Indian paparazzi.
The interview began with Kal and Zoya Akhtar revisiting the time they met for dinner at her home and how her dog ‘almost killed himself’. She said that her dog jumped on Kal’s brie and choked on the food. He had to be flung around so that the cheese lodged in his throat could be removed. The audience cracked up at her description of the incident.
Then, Kal talked about the weird requests that Indian paparazzi make whenever he visits the country, such as asking him to lie down. Zoya, however, said that they are very sweet. She recalled how once she fell down in front of the paparazzi and asked them not to publish the photos anywhere. They agreed not to do it.
Zoya also spoke about her film The Archies. When asked what made her take on the project, she simply said that Netflix approached her with it. But in a more serious answer, she said, “Archie was one of the few things that everybody read and it was our portal to [the United States].”
Kal also asked her about the scene between Reggie and Dilton that is a hit with many of those who watched the movie. Zoya talked about the decriminalization of homosexuality in India recently and how that has brought along a healthy change.