Avantika Vandanapu of Big Girls Don’t Cry opens up about being made fun of for her American accent: “I grew up in the United States.”
Avantika Vandanapu is famous for her performance as Karen Shetty in The Mean Girls. Recently, the actress has been in the news for opening up about her bitter experiences regarding her American accent in an interview. Avantika Vandanapu talked openly about how some Telugu people made fun of her American accent.
Avantika Vandanapu was born and brought up in a Telugu family living in San Francisco. Her family is originally from Hyderabad. The actress made her debut in Brahmotsavam, starring Superstar Mahesh Babu, in 2016. Avantika also played child roles in movies, such as Pawan Kalyan’s Agnyaathavaasi, Rarandoi Veduka Chudham, and Premam by Naga Chaitanya. Her first Tamil film was Boomika, starring Aishwarya Rajesh, released in 2021.
Upon realising Avantika Vandanapu was the young performer from Brahmotsavam and Premam, many expressed pride in seeing a Telugu actor succeed in Hollywood. Some mocked her for her American accent by removing clips from her red carpet interviews. During the conversation, Avantika discussed the idea of code-switching and criticised online trolls for their mistreatment of her.
The actress said, “It comes naturally to me to have an American accent because I was born and bred in the US. Many children of immigrants code-switch, meaning they speak with an Indian accent at home and an English one at school. However, I don’t think the Telugu public is aware of it. I was made fun of for my English speech, but I can’t speak Telugu everywhere, can I?
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Avantika Vanpanadu went on to say that if she were in their position, she would be encouraged to see a Telugu girl succeeding and would work to boost her rather than put her down.
“We should encourage Telugu girls who achieve success in Hollywood. It’s unjust that people made fun of my accent. Instead of trolling, I would be proud and want to be encouraged. I believed that I would make people proud. My family is proud of me, and that’s what matters most, so I’ll keep doing what I want to do,” she remarked.
Avantika Vanadanapu starred in Mean Girls not too long ago, and Tarot is her upcoming project. She recently played the role of Ludo in the Prime Video India original series Big Girls Don’t Cry. The series is currently streaming on Prime Video.
