Actor Avantika Vandanapu has been making waves since she starred in the reboot of Mean Girls as Karen Shetty. In an interview with iDream Media, she spoke about the trolling she has since received for her American accent. (Also Read: Mean Girls actor Avantika: ‘I struggled with the way I looked, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Naga Chaitanya were kind to me’)

‘I can’t speak in Telugu everywhere’

When people recognised Avantika as the child actor from Brahmotsavam and Premam, many were proud to see a Telugu actor make it in Hollywood. But some pulled clips from her red carpet interviews, trolling her for her American accent. Speaking in the interview, Avantika explained the concept of code-switching and called out trolls for being mean to her.

She said, “I was born and raised in the US; it’s natural for me to have an American accent. A lot of immigrant kids code-switch, as in, we speak in an English accent at school and an Indian accent at home. But, I think the Telugu audience is unfamiliar with it. I was trolled for how I speak in English, but I can’t speak Telugu everywhere, right?”

Avantika added that if she were in their place, she would be proud that a Telugu girl was reaching places and would try to uplift her, instead of pulling her down. “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,” she said.

About Avantika

For the unversed, Avantika was born to a Telugu family in San Francisco, California, US. Her family is originally from Hyderabad and she debuted in 2016 with Mahesh Babu-starrer Brahmotsavam. She later starred as a child actor in films like Naga Chaitanya’s Premam, Rarandoi Veduka Chudham and Pawan Kalyan’s Agnyaathavaasi. She also debuted in Tamil with Aishwarya Rajesh’s 2021 film Boomika. She was recently seen in Mean Girls and will soon be seen in Tarot. She plays Ludo in the Prime Video India Original series Big Girls Don’t Cry, which began streaming this week.

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