Destination Stanford child artiste, dancer, painter... Avanthika
Remember the sweet kid in Premam who mesmerised the audience with her striking eyes? V Avanthika is a prodigy that Telugu cinema was deprived of until she stepped in. Her passions vary from dance to acting to painting. However, dance is her first love. Avantika is currently training in Kuchipudi, Kathak, ballet, jazz, contemporary and Bollywood.
At 12, she has already a filmography of five movies. Born in Union City, California, Avanthika is hands full with offers and shoots. “I did a lot of commercial ads in Chennai. My popular ones in Telugu are Fortune Oil and South India Shopping Mall. Everybody is either calling me Fortune girl or Sindhu (name in Premam),” she smiles.
She is currently working on a couple of Telugu films with meaty roles and is also has a few Tamil and Malayalam projects in the offing. She has also recently auditioned for the award winning International director. “I am aspiring to study in Stanford to stay close to my parents. I would like to simultaneously pursue my passions of dancing and acting along with my studies,” she beams.
Google loves him tech wiz who can answer 3,000 questions Agastya
Never doubt his general knowledge, he can put us to shame. After all Google is his nick name. Agastya Jaiswal is the first Telangana boy who entered Class X when he was hardly eight years old. In 2014 June, he started his classes in St.Hills High School Chandrayangutta and by March 2015 he appeared for the 10 grade exams and secured 7.5 Grade in the board examinations. He is currently pursuing his Intermediate second year from St Mary’s Junior college Yousufguda, Hyderabad.
“My parents tell me that I was just two years when I started to answer their questions. I have answered more than 300 questions and today I am able to answer 3,000. I am trained by my parents. I grew up in a playful atmosphere and they always asked me to understand the subject and reproduce in my own language. I am also trained in calligraphy. Languages and basic mathematics were trained in a methodological way and I was made to learn 100 tables and I can also write essay on any topic.,” shares this power house of knowledge.
From Gayathri mantras to astrology, from demography to geography, from countries to villages, he knows everything about the world, history, technology and science.
Riding the radio waves teen jock who walks the right talk Sushmitha
Who said it’s easy being an RJ? Trying to be witty, smart and yet not hurt others is not a cake walk, but this 13-year-old does it effortlessly and meticulously. Sushmitha, a RJ with TeluguOne online radio, has drawn attention from 180 countries and is one of the favourties among the audience. “My mom is a RJ with All India Radio. I have seen her devotedly do the job and I thoroughly enjoyed it. When I was 9 years old, I auditioned for the TeluguOne radio and there has been no looking back after they offered me the hot seat in front of the console,” the little elucidates. “I buy books online, offline, read articles and gather all the information for my show. Even when I am travelling, I ensure I carry my notes and recorders. I speak to the localities, I learn about their culture, their tales and traditions and make a note of it, sometimes I record them and make the audience hear it through my radio.
Once when Sushmitha was live on radio, a listener said wanted to send her a gift and thus asked for her address. Since it was live, her mom and other officials concerned were tensed if she would reveal it as she was barely 9, she tactfully managed by asking a riddle to the listener and telling him that she would reveal her address only if he solves the riddle. He failed and she passed the test of presence of mind. She holds a record of going live on air, even when she has been down with temperature.
Her passion also includes cooking. She is planning to come up with cooking videos on YouTube too. “I can cook sweets to exotic curries,” she shares.
Ask her if she gets tired while juggling between RJing, school, cooking, pat comes the reply, “They are my stress busters. I am more focused on education because of being active with co-curricular activities,” tells this lanky teen who is in high school.