Avantika on Mean Girls, Playing a Brown Bimbo and Her Decade on Celluloid

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As a South Asian girl who carries lipgloss everywhere she goes, cannot be trusted with splitting the bill at restaurants, and wishes Halloween could be a monthly tradition, watching Avantika Vandanapu in the new adaptation of *Mean Girls* was a revelation. In the fictitious North Shore High, Avantika doesn't take on the role of a valedictorian who dreams of attending an Ivy League, or a shy band geek waiting to be noticed by a (white) knight in shining armour; she is Hollywood's favourite bimbo: Karen. Hot and stupid, just like her blonde predecessor, only more camp.

"In many ways, this role is the antithesis of the stereotypes we're fed about South Asians in Western media, which tend to put us into digestible categories," Avantika tells me over Zoom. I chat with the freshly anointed member of the Plastics from her dorm room at Columbia between a day of classes and her impending homework for the evening. Having worked in films for almost half of her life, the now-nineteen-year-old Avantika's first year at university is her first 'real' experience of regularly being in education. A fact she thinks is ironic as her last slate of films - Mean Girls (2024), Senior Year (2022) and Spin (2021) - were all set in high schools. "I didn't get the typical American high school experience growing up, so being able to embody it in these roles, in the fantastical, over the top, worlds of these fictional schools, has made me feel like I didn't miss out on that time of my life entirely."

The actress, who moved to India when she was nine and worked on several Tamil and Telugu films as a child actor, was never in one place long enough to mould herself into a clique. Avantika's 'middle school years' were spent rubbing shoulders with famous Telugu movie stars, perfecting dialogue delivery in several languages and adopting a prodigy-esque on-screen presence. "It all happened so suddenly. One second, we were going to Hyderabad to film a movie in the summer for three months, and somehow, we stayed in India for four years, shuttling between Bombay, Chennai and Hyderabad," she shares. "India grew on me, and I'm always going to be moving between the industry in India and America, but at the end of my four years, I realised that I wanted to give Hollywood a shot. The industry changed a lot since I was first looking for auditions, and with the social-media-driven push for more diverse casts, I was optimistic that there would be more roles for someone who looked like me."

“I'm always going to be moving between the industry in India and America, but at the end of my four years, I realised that I wanted to give Hollywood a shot. The industry changed a lot since I was first looking for auditions, and with the social-media-driven push for more diverse casts, I was optimistic that there would be more roles for someone who looked like me."

Part of this clamouring for diverse characters has seen several Black and Brown actors become caricatures of their racial and cultural identity, where their otherness becomes the defining part of their on-screen persona and dictates their emotional arcs. Alongside Tina Fey, Avantika was resolute that, apart from her surname, which was changed from Smith to Shetty to reflect the character's South-Indian heritage, the new iteration of Karen would not be differentiated based on her race. There are no overly-dramatised parents, no mention of calculus and no white-love interest in Karen's sight. "It felt essential for me as a young South-Asian actress to play a character who was openly stupid and unanimously considered beautiful and sexy. In many ways, it validated my talent and beauty," Avantika details.

"On a personal level, Karen was my favourite character in the original film. I resonated with the way she was able to remain kind despite questionable circumstances," she continues. As a character, Karen might have been as ditzy as they come, but was never a true "mean girl". She seemed to genuinely want to welcome Cady into The Plastics as a friend, not a pawn, and extended a sense of grace and compassion that was lacking in the rest of the characters.

In a shining moment in the new iteration, Karen attempts to soothe Regina's nerves by calling her pimple ‘sexy like a face breast’. "I think Karen is very comfortable in her sense of self and can stay away from being hyper self-aware, which is commendable in this day and age where our flaws are constantly pointed out to us." Avantika enthuses.

“I had to commit to the bit and commit to Karen's vibe, which was truly about her not giving a shit about everyone else and their opinions. I had to overcome lingering imposter syndrome and wipe out that inner dialogue in my head."

In preparation for the role, Avantika listened to many of Britney Spears's greatest hits from the 2000s and leaned into the campier side of musical theatre. More importantly, she tells me how she had to reprogram her internal voice to shift from being hyper-critical. "The hardest thing about embodying this particular character was freeing myself from self-doubt.” Avantika reveals, “I had to commit to the bit and commit to Karen's vibe, which was truly about her not giving a shit about everyone else and their opinions. I had to overcome lingering imposter syndrome and wipe out that inner dialogue in my head."

When I asked her if she found the magic solution to cutting out the noise, Avantika candidly replied that you can never fully get rid of it, even when you're supposed to be playing an airhead. "This might not work for everyone, but work and school can be so all-consuming that sometimes leaning into the chaos can help me not fester in negativity."

In the weeks since the film's release, the actress has received praise from critics who reference her comedic timing and deadpan delivery as some of the funniest parts of the film. On social media, fan edits of Gen-Z's Karen edited to Hollaback Girl and Dangerously in Love flooded my TikTok. One viral tweet declared that her face could launch a thousand ships, another deemed her the people's princess, and several others frantically demanded she be cast to play the titular role in Disney's live-action Rapunzel.

It seemed as if a legion of new fans propped up in a few weeks, who were mesmerised by her beauty and talent and touted Avantika as the film's break-out star. "It's been so gratifying to see people resonate with Karen Shetty and get this response.” She smiles, “I was really nervous about this movie coming out because a part of me thought that people would be critical of my performance and not welcome a Brown mean girl or fail to understand why I wanted to make Karen a bit bigger and a bit more campy to fit into the theme of a musical. While there are negative comments around social media, I'm glad most people are watching the film from that perspective."

I was really nervous about this movie coming out because a part of me thought that people would be critical of my performance and not welcome a Brown mean girl or fail to understand why I wanted to make Karen a bit bigger and a bit more campy to fit into the theme of a musical.

It’s been a monumental year for the young starlet, and it’s only February. In the coming months, Avantika will star in the spine-tingling horror flick Tarot, which is set to release on the 10th of May and play the role of a queer basketball player in a boarding school in an unannounced Hindi/English series for Prime Video. She’s also marked to produce and star in the Disney+ adaptation of A Crown of Wishes, which will mark Avantika’s foray into being a producer. “I’ve started all these new pursuits such as writing and production and I’ve signed up for another semester at college. I’m excited to see how these new roles will pan out in the next few years,” she tells me. “This feels like a big year for me. Not just in terms of my career but for my personal relationships too. I’m both nervous and thrilled to see where everything goes, this feels like the start of a new era of my life.”

Avantika on Mean Girls, Playing a Brown Bimbo and Her Decade on Celluloid

“I had to commit to the bit and commit to Karen's vibe, which was truly about her not giving a shit about everyone else and their opinions. I had to overcome lingering imposter syndrome and wipe out that inner dialogue in my head."

I was really nervous about this movie coming out because a part of me thought that people would be critical of my performance and not welcome a Brown mean girl or fail to understand why I wanted to make Karen a bit bigger and a bit more campy to fit into the theme of a musical.

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