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EXCLUSIVE! Avantika Dassani On Mithya & Her Plan Forward: Hope Rest Of My Career Allows Me To Be Experimental
Avantika Dassani, who recently made her acting debut with ZEE5's Mithya is the daughter of Bollywood actress Bhagyashree. The young and passionate star recently opened up about her debut and her plans forward in a candid
Avantika Dassani, who recently made her acting debut with ZEE5's Mithya is the daughter of Bollywood actress Bhagyashree. The young and passionate star recently opened up about her debut and her plans forward in a candid conversation with Filmibeat.
Avantika is not only following the footsteps of her mother but also her brother Abhimanyu Dassani, who impressed fans with films like Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota and Meenakshi Sundareshwar. However, Avantika plans on catching up with her brother soon. Describing her relationship with Abhimanyu, the actress told Filmibeat, "He is not the sweet guy with me that everyone sees on screen." Laughing, she further added, "He is as annoying and as terrible as any brother is no matter the roles he pursues of the sweet little boy."
Calling herself stubborn, Avantika possibly hopes to use the strength to pursue challenging and experimental roles like Rhea from the debut show. Talking about making her debut, Awantika revealed that she wasn't nervous before the show's release since "I have already performed and done what I was supposed to do. I can't change any of it so there is no point in stressing about it. I think that is the importance of learning and having my brother and mom at home giving me advice."
Take a look at the excerpts of the conversation,
What brotherly advice did Abhimanyu share with you before Mithya's release?
I can't tell you the number of times I have been asked this question but there is nothing that they (mom and brother) say. They look at me stressed and they just say, 'What are you stressing for?' and 'stop stressing'. And I am there thinking, great thanks all my stress is gone now. Every time I tell my brother that something has gone wrong or something is not going the way I would have wanted it to, he tells me, 'you have seen me go through all of this, how can you still think about this like that,' and all I can say is yeah, that makes sense.
On paper, your character in Mithya is clearly the antagonist in the story, but it's a very grey character and Rhea deeply believes what she is doing is right? How did you work on making her actions seem logical? How did you make sense of Rhea's actions yourself?
I love this. It is so nice for me as an actor that this is what you saw in Rhea. It is exactly like you said, this was not the way Rhea was written. But for me, it was very important that this is how I represent her on screen. It was the only way she made sense to me- for her choices and action, for her to be who she is. It feels great to hear that Rhea was perceived like that by you. Rhea is very different from me, in her ideologies and her perspective, but while filming, I had to remind myself that this is not me. That was my approach, and it came to a point that I was defending Rhea's actions on set and everyone would say that I was getting too close to this.
Rhea is a Hindi literature student and can be seen speaking 'shudh Hindi', and unfortunately, not everyone is well versed with the language. Did you have a hard time, or were you able to have fun with it?
Neither am I. Most of those dialogues are in the 'mulakat' scene (which is at the start of each episode). We shot all of it in a day and a half. The treatment of the scenes is very interesting and we were very excited to shoot it. Huma and I were very excited when we first found out what the plan was. We knew it was going to look cool, and it slightly took the pressure off. But then it also made be feel that I had to do a good job. I took an entire day to go through the material and understand it so I can do better on set. I had a problem during only two scenes, one of them was when I had marbles in my mouth. We had been shooting for days at large and I really hadn't gotten much time to prepare.
But the interesting thing that happened was after the shoot. That day Huma message me and said 'Great Job'. That was very touching and lovely for me because she has been someone who has always ragged and bullied me on set (laughs).
You and Huma play these complete opposite characters and your chemistry on screen is really good and it gets better with every episode. Both of y'all must have ended up spending a lot of time together, and you also mentioned she often ragged you on set? How was the dynamic behind the scene?
She (Huma) was so excited that she had someone junior on set to be able to bully. I was also the only vegetarian actor on the set. So no matter what I did, it was blamed on me being a vegetarian. But Huma is super fun to work and between takes, we had a blast. We were constantly playing games on set. She has been quite a mentor for me on set, helping and guiding me through the process.
As a junior/newcomer star, what did you hope to learn from this experience working with actors like Huma, KC Shankar, Rajit Kapoor?
Honestly, for me, the experience was way better than I could have hoped for. By the time I said yes to the project, we had two weeks to begin the filming in Darjeeling. So everything was happening so fast, I hadn't processed it completely. I kept saying that I am so lucky and so happy, and they would tell me that 'this is not how all sets are, don't get used to this.' Huma also kept joking that 'you are going to go on your next set and you are going to cry and call me and tell me how much you hate everyone. And how much you wish you were working with us.' I was like, please don't put it out in the universe.
But honestly, I enjoyed my scenes with Rajit sir a lot. He is so there, in the moment as a performer and I would often get lost just looking at him perform.
I absolutely loved Mithya's ending and it does leave a little bit of hope for a possible season 2. Is it something you would want to work on or would you like to move on to something new?
Do you think anyone else can do Rhea better? (laughs) No, I am kidding. But honestly, I loved working on this project because we have such a great cast and crew, everyone from Goldie Sir's team to Rohan sir's team. Everyone has been so supportive, encouraging and patient of me being a newcomer. So, if I can get an opportunity to work with these guys again, I would love it.
Was it always known that you and your brother will become actors, or did you decide it later in your life? What was your family's reaction when you told them?
When I started doing workshops that's when I got really inspired to pursue acting. I love this craft because it allows you to be a different person and understand others. It allows you to be a better person. You can't and shouldn't be judgemental as an actor, or otherwise. And working in this industry definitely gives you the chance to meet different kinds of people, so it was the industry that inspired me most and the opportunity for the kind of life it will bring to me.
When I started going for workshops, they saw it coming. So my mom is like my secret diary, if I want to talk about something I go to her. So when I started going for workshops I told her about it and she said, 'you sound like an actor and it's clear that you love it'. I do and I am really passionate about it but they weren't happy at first because they know I am a very emotional person. As any family would be, they were being protective and were hoping that I'd choose to do anything else that will keep me away from the harsh criticism that you have to face in this industry. But at the end of the day, I am a stubborn girl and if I fall in love with something I don't give up. Then at that point, it was just accepted as the gospel truth.
After a debut like Mithya, what are your plans here on? What do you think you will be doing in the next five years?
Just doing great work and working with great people, that's the only thing. I don't have anything set or have goals and milestones in my mind. I do have a few but they are sort of personal so I will keep them to myself. I will only share them when I tick them off (laughs). But apart from that, it's just about trying different things for me right now. The whole reason I took Rhea as my first role was to take on a challenge and be experimental. I hope the rest of my career allows me to do that.
