Age: 21
female
Avantika Vandanapu (born 25 January 2005), sometimes credited mononymously as Avantika, is an American actress and dancer. She has worked in several Indian films in the Telugu and Tamil languages. In 2021, she starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Spin and in 2022, played the role of Janet Singh in the American comedy Senior Year. She was also the second winner of the Zee TV reality show Dance India Dance Lil Masters North America. In 2024, she played the role of Karen Shetty in Mean Girls, a film adaptation of the Broadway show adaption of the 2004 film Mean Girls. She also starred in the supernatural horror film “TAROT” playing Paige.
While traveling by train to visit his grandfather in Jamshedpur, Calcutta born, Bengali-speaking Ashoke Ganguli meets with fellow-traveler, Ghosh, who impresses upon him to travel, while Ashoke is deep into a book authored by Nicholai Gogol. The train meets with an accident, and after recuperating, Ashoke re-locates to America, settles down, returns home in 1977 to get married to aspiring singer, Ashima, and returns home to New York. Shortly thereafter they become parents of a boy, who they initially name Gogol, and a few years later both give birth to Sonia. The family then buy their own house in the suburbs and travel to India for the first time after their marriage. The second time they travel to India is when Gogol and Sonia are in their late teens, and after a memorable visit to Kolkata and then to the Taj Mahal, they return home. Gogol falls in love with Maxine Ratliff and moves in with her family, while Ashoke spends time traveling, and Sonia moves to California, leaving Ashima all her by herself. The Ganguli family will be destined to travel to India again soon - this time under very different circumstances - and after all have endured life-changing events.
