Avantika Vandanapu Reacts To Trolls

Avantika Vandanapu reacts to trolls. Avantika Vandanapu has been making waves since her role as Karen Shetty in the Mean Girls reboot.

Despite her success, she has faced criticism for her American accent. Some people who recognized Avantika as the child actor from Brahmotsavam and Premam were proud to see a Telugu actor succeeding in Hollywood. However, others criticized her accent, pulling clips from her red carpet interviews to troll her. In response, Avantika explained the concept of code-switching, where immigrant kids like herself speak with an English accent at school and an Indian accent at home. She expressed disappointment at the trolling, stating, "I was trolled for how I speak in English, but I can’t speak Telugu everywhere, right?"

Avantika emphasized that she was born and raised in the US, so having an American accent is natural for her. She believed that the Telugu audience might be unfamiliar with code-switching. She expressed her wish for people to be proud of her achievements instead of pulling her down. She said, “When a Telugu girl gains success in Hollywood, she should be supported. It’s unfair I was trolled for my accent. I would be proud and want to uplift, instead of troll. I thought people would be proud of me. I will keep doing what I will because my family is proud of me and their opinions are the only ones that matter.”

For those unfamiliar with Avantika, she was born to a Telugu family in San Francisco, California. Her family hails from Hyderabad, and she made her debut in 2016 with Mahesh Babu's Brahmotsavam. She later appeared in films like Naga Chaitanya’s Premam, Rarandoi Veduka Chudham, and Pawan Kalyan’s Agnyaathavaasi. Avantika also made her Tamil debut in 2021 with Aishwarya Rajesh's film Boomika. She recently appeared in Mean Girls and will soon be seen in Tarot. Additionally, she plays Ludo in the Prime Video India Original series Big Girls Don't Cry, which premiered this week.