Guess who’s trending on OTT today? Telugu ammayi (girl) Avantika Vandanapu. Perhaps it started with OTT star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s portrayal of Devi in Never Have I Ever on Netflix which got a new season in July. Now, all eyes are on Vandanapu from Los Angeles who is being hailed as the breakout star of Disney’s original movie, Spin. Used to being under the spotlight—she had debuted as a child artist—Vandanapu remains unfazed by the fame.
Best remembered for her Tollywood debut in the 2016 Mahesh Babu-Samantha-Kajal Aggarwal starter Brahmotsavam, the young actor went on to work in Chandra Shekhar Yeleti’s film Manamantha and played the younger version of Madonna Sebastian in Premam (Telugu) the same year. Most recently she played the title role of an autistic girl in the Tamil film, Bhoomika.
This 16-year-old is super excited about her full-fledged role now. The movie premiered on Disney Channel on August 13 and is now available on Disney+Hotstar. Spin follows Rhea (Vandanapu), an Indian American teen who learns she has a passion for creating DJ mixes that blend the textures of her Indian heritage and the world around her. Her life revolves around her friends, her after-school coding club, her family’s Indian restaurant and her tight-knit, multigenerational family, which has only grown closer since her mother’s death.
The 11-grader who is being homeschooled in California has her calendar booked with exciting projects. She also appears on Disney+Hotstar in Diary of a Future President and voices ‘Kamala’ on Disney Channel’s Mira, the Royal Detective. Besides, she has just wrapped up shooting for a Netflix film, Senior Year, co-starring Rebel Wilson. As you wonder at her acting portfolio, she springs a surprise. “I have recently purchased the rights of a New York Times best-selling novel and will be turning it into a film. I can’t reveal more than this,” says the girl who finds actors Meryl Streep and Viola Davis inspiring.
While it looks like Vandanapu has got it all sorted, she says that like Hollywood star Priyanka Chopra Jonas, she also faced racism. She was called a Paki and asked to ‘go back to your country’ when she was barely 10. But she remained undeterred and decided to stick to her passion for dance and acting to prove she is made for the world stage.
Vandanapu started learning the South Indian classical dance form, Kuchipudi, at the age of seven, and there was no looking back. She won several dance shows including the title winner of ATA Star Dancer in 2012 and runner-up in Dance India Dance Li’l Masters in 2014. It was the Hyderabad-based short film director Dr Anand Kumar Eslavath who saw her talent on stage and launched her with the award-winning short film Praja Hakku, which dealt with girl child education.
Successfully straddling the two extreme worlds of Hollywood and Tollywood, what’s her first love? “I have a broader choice of roles in Hollywood, but the audition process is lengthy, tedious and often results in rejection. In India, the roles available for young, female actors are limited, but it’s much easier to find work once you have proven yourself in a movie or two. Also, I love the songs and dances with great costumes in Indian films which I miss in Hollywood films. For now, I’m happy to have the best of both worlds,” she says.