When you're bullied by your own people, it hurts a little more: Mean Girls actor Avantika Vandanapu

The recently released musical 'Mean Girls', is an adaptation of the Broadway stage play, which, again, was largely inspired by the 2004 version of 'Mean Girls'. So, in a way, Mean Girls 2024 is an indirect remake of the 2004 version of the chick flick. The new version has welcomed a more diverse cast. In the 2024 version, Karen Smith became Karen Shetty leading the studios to include a woman from a brown race to play the role. In an exclusive chat with WION, Avantika Vandanapu, the actor who played the role of Karen Shetty, opened up about her favourite chick flick and the times when she had to confront mean girls. For Shetty, being bullied became a different kind of emotional turmoil since she was being bullied by people from her race. 

What made you choose the role of Karen Shetty? 

I wouldn't say that I had the luxury of choosing. I went through the typical audition process. I would say I am very lucky because Karen Smith was one of my favourite characters from the original movie. I was very fortunate to have Paramount Pictures see me and think that I was best suited to play the new role. I was very excited. I was hopeful that I would book it. This is a dream come true moment for me.

So how did you land this role? 

I went through the typical audition process for this. One day I opened my inbox, and I had an audition for Karen Shetty, the new Mean Girls character. It was an audition for a musical, and I had to sing there. I was very intimidated. I have not had the opportunity to sing in public before. Taking on such an incredible character was really scary. So, I submitted an audition tape and forgot about it. I did not hear anything for three months. Then after that, Paramount Pictures called and said that they wanted me to play the role. 

So, you already told me that Karen Smith is your favourite Mean Girl. Apart from her, who is your favourite? 

I would probably say Gretchen Wieners. I think there is a little bit of Gretchen in all of us. I am a little prone to hysteria, drama, and melodrama just like Gretchen. I think she is very real. 

When was the first time you watched 'Mean Girls'? Do you have any memory of that? 

I do, I do. I think I was seven or eight when I watched it with my father. It was great. I found the film so glamorous. I idealized my high school life to be like that, with girls who are so cool, pretty and smart. But as I grew older, my relationship with the movie changed. The interpersonal dynamics of girlhood which the movie captures, I managed to find a connection with them.

How was your high school experience? 

I would say it was quite different from a normal high school experience. I graduated high school when I was 13. I went to a hybrid school. My typical high school year should have started then. From 13 onwards, I started AP courses to make my transcript look really good. I was filming often. I don't think I gave high school a fair shot so I won't be able to say that I had a regular, typical high school experience. I can't say if my high school experience managed to live up to the kind they show in Mean Girls. Regardless, I have had friendships as a young woman, and I have interacted in these same dynamics as the movie shows. I wouldn't say that I am completely separated from the high school experience, but I didn't experience it in a high school setting. 

One of the reasons the 2004 version of 'Mean Girls' became memorable was because of its costumes. While being a part of the remake version, what did you learn about costumes and how they become the silent characters in the movie?

For sure, I think the costumes play a vital role in developing a character and building an audience perception. For Karen, especially, it felt collaborative. Our costume designer was open to taking input. We settled for this feminine, mini skirt, pastel, girly look for Karen. It had a sweet but flirty vibe that captured her essence well. We wanted to keep it modern. When you are making a movie about women, style is especially important. I think this movie did a great job of capturing each individual's essence in the way that they dress. 

Yes, I agree. Why do you think chick flicks become so popular? 

I think chick flicks are an attainable escape from reality. You see, when you watch action movies, you can rarely be like John Wick. Or like Hrithik Roshan going all dhishoom dhishoom, all the villains. The same can be said about sci-fi and horror. But I think for women, especially chick flicks, are an attainable escape. I think the universe in which chick flicks take place is far-fetched enough and just glamorous and colourful and beautiful enough for you to attain it. It can be an escape for you as well as these characters from chick flicks, the women are in scenarios where you can be too.  

Be it in an office space or rom-com, the women who are working the 9-5 jobs, you feel like them. Or even the characters in Mean Girls, who are in a high school, you can manage to be like them. In various ways, they feel more retable. Chick flicks give you hope that you can embody these characters in real life. You can have your 500 days of summer moments. It inspires you to have hope in your day-to-day life. 

Have you ever come face to face with a mean girl? Have you been bullied? 

Of course. I think everyone has had to deal with some kind of experience like that. I grew up being very very bullied. But those experiences have toughened me up for sure. But back when I was being bullied, I felt maybe I couldn't be friends with girls, or maybe this is how it is always going to be. But now that I think about it, I think you just have to find your clique. 

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Growing up I was kind of the ugly child, a little weird, and I was not exactly in school all the time because I was travelling back and forth for audition. So, I think I just cultivated this environment which made it easier for people to pick on me. But I would say all these experiences helped me grow up. And now I know how to stand up for myself. 

Do you think you were bullied because you were brown? 

I went to a public school when I was younger. There, I was in the minority as a brown person. People would make fun of the food I would eat and the oil in my head. I think the severe bullying, the kind you see in Mean Girls, the severe emotional manipulation I dealt with when I went to school with Asian people. It was an academically rigorous school. It was competitive. I didn't stay there for very long because I couldn't handle it. Everyone there was Asian. I don't think there, the root of my bullying was me being brown. Most people there were brown, which is what makes it more unfortunate. At least the bullying I faced that stemmed from racism I could remove them from my mind, saying. oh, they are just racist. But when you are bullied by your own people, it hurts a little more.