Avantika Vandanapu, widely known for her role as Karen Shetty in the Mean Girls reboot, has been sparking conversations lately.
Some recognized her from earlier roles in Brahmotsavam and Premam, feeling proud of her Hollywood breakthrough. However, trolls target her regarding her American accent in red-carpet interviews.
Many people in India on social media are trolling her accent, but they don’t understand the concept of code-switching, which is common among Indian-born kids who speak the American accent effortlessly.
These Indian kids who are born and brought up in America speak with an American accent effortlessly when they are with their American friends. However, when they are at home and speak to their Indian parents, they mellow down their American accent and try to speak like their parents with an Indian English accent. This is called code-switching.
Growing up in America, many Indian children immerse themselves in American culture, spending most of their time with American friends and classmates.
Consequently, it’s natural for them to speak the American accent easily, often leading to a struggle with their Telugu accent.
These trolls from India have no clue about Indian kids who are born in the U.S. They think she is putting up a fake accent, which is funny. That’s how any Indian kid who is born in the U.S. and going to school speaks.
Avantika recently clarified that growing up in the US naturally influenced her accent. Despite facing backlash for her English accent, she stressed the need for support from the Telugu community, especially when a fellow Telugu achieves success in Hollywood.
Born into a Telugu family in San Francisco, Avantika has appeared in several Telugu and Tamil films before venturing into Hollywood.
