This is what Mean Girls’ Avantika Vandanapu said about working in India - ‘Nepotism and colourism don’t...’

Avantika Vandanapu made her Hollywood debut this year with the modern-day adaptation of Mean Girls

Avantika Vandanapu

In the past few years, Hollywood has been making it a point to show diversity and representation in its films. Even as Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Ambika Mod take centre-stage in their projects, there are others like Avantika Vandanapu, who after making her debut in the Tamil film industry, has gone on to pave her way in Hollywood with the recently released film Mean Girls.

Also read: Avantika Vandanapu in Mean Girls – Transformation of Mahesh Babu’s Brahmotsavam co-star stuns netizens

Importance of representation

In an interview with PTI, Avantika talked about the importance of South Asian representation and how she feels honoured to be a part of that legacy. “It has been a long time coming considering we are a large population with so many incredibly, beautiful, and talented women. It was time that a community of 1.5 billion people was represented on the global (stage),” the actor said.

Experience on set

Speaking about her initial years in the South industry and her experiences of working with actresses such as Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Kajal Aggarwal, Avantika said that both the actresses were ‘lovely and kind’ to her. “It meant a lot to me as a young girl who was struggling with the way she looked. Samantha is doing incredible things and so is Kajal and so to continue watching them succeed is inspiring,” she said. She also revealed that it was lovely to meet actor Naga Chaitanya on set.

Also read: Avantika Vandanapu, of Indian origin, to feature in Tina Fey’s Mean Girls - The Musical film

Aspirations on working in India

When she was asked about her aspirations of working in India, Avantika said that she definitely desired to work in India but also acknowledged the kind of problems she would have to face in the Indian film industry. She said that the issues of nepotism and colourism, that are prevalent in Bollywood, don't necessarily go in her favour. “There's a lot to battle that goes beyond talent to work like nepotism, colourism. I don't have that necessarily going in my favour,” she said.

Avantika was last seen in the modern-day adaptation of Mean Girls where she played the role of Karen Shetty. She will next be seen in Disney’s A Crown of Wishes and Nitya Mehra's Prime Video series, Big Girls Don't Cry.

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