It’s amazing that Indian women are able to shine their light in Hollywood: Mean Girls actress Avantika | hollywood news
South Asian women, especially of Indian origin, are at the forefront of world titles such as Bridgerton And one day Indian-American actor Avantika, who plays Karen Shetty in the remake of the popular teen comedy, says the film is long awaited. I mean girls.
This is not the first time that the 19-year-old actress, who was born to an Indian family in California, has performed. Avantika made her debut with the 2016 film Brahmotsavam, a film in her mother tongue, Telugu.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas (The Castle), Simone Ashely (Bridgerton), and Ambika Maude (One Day), the line-up of actresses with Indian affinities is getting longer with Avantika’s name in it.
“It’s been a long time coming considering we are such a large population of so many incredibly beautiful and talented women. It’s time to represent a community of 1.5 billion people on the global stage.” PTI In an interview.
Giving credit to women has paved the way for actors like her to emerge, and Avantika said she and her contemporaries hope to do the same for the “future generation of South Asian women” so that things will be a little easier for them. “It’s amazing that Indian women can kind of shine their light in Hollywood… I feel honored to be part of that legacy,” she added.
Growing up on films like Matilda and 3 Idiots, which she describes as an honest depiction of the human condition, led Avantika to love cinema.
“‘Matilda’ shaped my interest in wanting to be involved in films. 3 Idiots is a classic, and it was a big film for me. I’m inspired by honest films that feel like a true representation of what it means to be human and what it means to live,” she said.
Watch the trailer for Mean Girls here:
Directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr., Mean Girls is described as a new twist on the 2004 modern classic that comes from the comedic mind of Tina Fey.
The new film follows Cady Heron (Anjorie Rice), who joins an elite group at her new high school, “The Plastics,” run by Regina George (Renee Rapp) and her followers Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and Karen (Avantika).
When Cady falls in love with Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels (Christopher Prinny), she is at odds with Regina. As Cady sets out to take down Regina with the help of her outcast friends Janice (Aully Cravalho) and Damien (Jacquel Spivey), she must learn how to stay true to herself while navigating high school. Avantika got the role of naive Karen, played by Amanda Seyfried in the original film, through a standard audition process.
Thinking she had “totally bombed” her audition, she messaged a fellow actor on social media whom she had never met but had seen her work.
“I don’t know if you can sing, I know I’ve never met you before, and this may sound weird but I just got an audition for Karen in Mean Girls and I’m definitely not getting it,” she wrote. “But I think you should ask your team to audition,” she recalled.
When the actress didn’t hear from the Mean Girls cast for four months, she “assumed” she wouldn’t get the part. Avantika said she was shooting for her next film ‘Tarot’ when she received the good news that she had made it.
It was an offer from Paramount and the Mean Girls team. And I never did a callback, so I didn’t really process any of it. It never felt real until I showed up for rehearsals and Tina Fey was in the office next to me. “I thought, ‘Oh, this is actually happening now.'” Getting Seyfried’s blessing during the release of “Mean Girls” was the icing on the cake, she added.
“It was wonderful to have her blessing and know that she was supportive and encouraging of my involvement in the film. She had a lot of trust in me, especially when reprising such an iconic character. There is a sense of hesitation and fear that comes with living up to the legacy before you and her supporting me means something,” she said. a lot”.
Avantika also remembers fondly her early years in the Hindi film industry. Besides Brahmotsavam, her acting credits include Premam Manamantha in Telugu and Bhumika in Tamil.
It may have been a “haze of positive memories” for the actor, who was barely 10 at the time, but she remembers Brahmotsavam stars Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kajal Aggarwal and Naga Chaitanya (Premam) being supportive of her.
“Samantha and Kajal Aggarwal were so beautiful and kind. It meant a lot to me as a little girl who was struggling with her looks. Samantha is doing amazing things and so is Kajal, so continuing to watch them succeed is inspiring. I remember Naga Chaitanya being so beautiful to me in Set. Avantika’s next is the Disney+ series A Crown of Wishes. She is also set to make her Hindi debut with the lead video of Nitya Mehra’s Big Girls Don’t Cry.
“There are 100 per cent plans to work in India. But it’s a different beast. There’s a lot to fight that goes beyond talent to work like nepotism and colourism. I don’t necessarily have that to my advantage.”
“However, I have a show on Amazon Prime coming out in a few weeks called ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ by Nitya Mehra. I’m hoping this will be my Bollywood debut even though it’s on OTT. Paramount Pictures has released Mean Girls In Indian theaters last month.
(Tags for translation)Avantika
