One could be cynical and see this transposition of the Riverdale narrative universe into an Indian setting as just another exercise in brand colonialism, pasteurising youth culture one country at a time with deadly doses of emulsifying intellectual property. Or one could just chillax and dance along to the formidably catchy songs, performed with zip by the peppy and exceedingly well choreographed cast. While one is grooving along, it’s worth noting that every so often the film-makers have smuggled in a quietly subversive thought, such as in the song Everything Is Politics which argues, pace Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser, that there is no position outside the ideological apparatus. It’s that very dualism which makes this goofy musical fascinating, a guilt-free pleasure that’s nevertheless super-corny and ridiculous.
Like the American Archie comics on which this is based, the story here takes place in a mythical town called Riverdale – except this Riverdale was founded in northern India by Anglo-Indians, as explained in an opening animated sequence. After independence, the residents of Riverdale planted trees in the names of their children to commemorate their newfound freedom and hope for the future, creating the municipal space Green Park in the centre of town. But, in the 1964 of the film, the now-teenage kids like rock’n’roll and miniskirts, they consider going abroad for university and are blithely unaware that things are changing in less savoury ways. Local oligarch Mr Lodge (Alyy Khan), father of high-school rich girl Veronica (Suhana Khan), has plans to develop the Green Park and plonk a grand hotel in the middle of it.
