This Monday, Avantika — a mononymous actress well-known for her recent portrayal of Karen in the musical adaptation of “Mean Girls” (2024) — gave a talk at the Granoff Martinos Auditorium, marking the first event of the 23rd annual Ivy Film Festival.
The discussion was moderated by Ailsa Kokoricha ’26 and Lemuel Greaves ’26, two members of the IFF team. The interview was followed by an open Q&A session.
Over the hour-long talk, Avantika gave insight into various aspects of her career, starting with her experience in the entertainment industry as a ballet dancer. Starting at a young age, she eventually transitioned into acting due to the long-term physical taxation of dance.
Avantika cited facing many challenges when pursuing a career in film, some of which stemmed from a lack of worker protections. Upon her initial expression of wanting to act professionally, her mother suggested that she make her debut in the Indian film industry to avoid stereotype-casting. She described working in India as “very rough” due to the lack of a union system, and recalled leaving film sets at 3:00 a.m. and returning at 6:00 a.m.
Despite these challenges, she likened her relationships with her castmates in the Indian film industry to a “family,” contrasting it to the bureaucratic structure of the American film industry.
Avantika also discussed previous, current and future projects. She shared her affinity for her character in “Mean Girls,” describing Karen as “someone who remains joyful because of how ignorant she is.” Avantika explained that she always looks to “inject joy” in her roles and that it was important to her to play a brown person who is “okay with being stupid and doesn’t feel the need to compensate.”
She later spoke more about the importance of “using her voice” to promote further diversity in Hollywood and also referenced her cultural background in her work and image.
Avantika also shared that she will be taking a leave of absence from her studies at Columbia to focus on her career. She criticized higher educational institutions for making it difficult for students to pursue extracurricular opportunities on top of their schoolwork.
During the Q&A session many attendees took the opportunity to ask a wide range of questions. Her dream project, whether or not she likes seeing TikTok edits of herself and how she chooses roles that feel authentic to her cultural identity were some of the themes discussed.
Taarini Godbole ’27 described the talk as “really inspiring and cool to see.”
“As a South Asian person, it is really nice to see her perspective on going into this industry and how she navigated everything,” Godbole added.
Jennifer Tran ’25 enjoyed learning more about Avantika’s “perspective and her lived experiences,” especially in a moment of growing Asian representation in media, she said.
The Ivy Film Festival will continue throughout the week. Future events include a screening of “The Idea of You” starring Nicholas Galitzine and Anne Hathaway on April 13 and a discussion with “Wicked” actress Cynthia Erivo on April 14.
