From Gandhinagar to being a Calendar Girl, this sexy lass has more to her than what meets the eye. Get ready as BYSQ serves you this talented Gujju Girl on the rocks.
While the release of Madhur Bhandarkar’s movie ‘Calendar Girls’ on 25th September 2015 stamps Avani Modi’s official entry in B-Town, she has already got the fraternity buzzing about her charm and confident persona that she radiates. 4 years ago, this Modi girl packed her bags to migrate to the B-Town to realize her dream of being a household name and as she lives her dream today, Avani echoes “I couldn’t have got a better launch than Mr.Bhandhakar’s movie Calendar Girls”.
As Avani’s Khwaishein continue to get fulfilled, BYSQ gets an exclusive Australia interview, snippets of Avani’s journey and captures the excitement of her fabulous debut.
BYSQ: Congratulations on your Bollywood debut, share with us about the movie, your experience on this film, working with Mr.Bhandarkar who is known as the flag-bearer of woman centric glamorous movie?
AM: I am extremely lucky to have my Bollywood debut with a Madhur Bhandarkar movie.Couldn’t have dreamt of a better launch. The film focuses on five girls who hail from different regions of India & 1 being from Lahore (yes, that’s me-Nazneen Malik), and who have been selected to pose for the country’s most prestigious annual calendar.
It has been lovely working with the entire team and particularly Madhur as he is so encouraging and knows how to show the reality and outline women empowerment through content and not just boldness & glam. We underwent a 15-20 day raining workshop, observed the walk & talk of Top Models, to incorporate and showcase the best to our audience. Conscious me, I starting dieting to be my on-screen best, Madhur was shocked to see my weight-loss..in fact he said he wanted Nazneen Malik to be the way I was in auditions. Haha..I was the only calendar Girl put on anti-diet. What else can I ask for, eat whatever you want and still act in a glamorous bollywood movie!
BYSQ: How did Calendar Girl’s happen?
AM: I have acted in a few Tamil movies- NAAN RAJAVAGA POGIREIN, Strawberry; & short film called ‘Gulabee’ which has won international acclaim and awards, things changed for me when a common friend of Madhur Bhandarkar’s manager told me about the auditions for fresh faces in Madhur’s next film Calendar Girls. As excited and nervous, I went & auditioned as my best. After 2 tough rounds and out of 1500 girls, a few were selected and today we are known as Calendar Girls.The movie has such great story, content and nonetheless being directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, I feel over the moon to be part of it.
BYSQ: The movie’s story revolves around 5 girls, did you ever feel that you could get lost in the crowd of your debut movie?
AM: My first reason to sign the movie was only because it was by Mr.Bhandarkar. He always makes women empowerment movies with no main protagonist & multiple characters but the films are always of full of content, emotion and meaning. Calendar Girls is a journey of 5 girls, each has equal importance, is well interconnected, going parallel & so well written. Madhur Bhandarkar has done so much of research before sketching out each of our characters.He knew exactly how each character needs to be defined as.From their appearance to their accent, it clearly shows that the movie has a lot of content, substance & to the tee dialogues. It also involves showing that art & artists don’t belong to a particular nationality or religion. The journey of 5 girls is being distinctly portrayed, in fact my character Nazneen- a very ambitious, modern and a bold girl, is the only one not from India but from Lahore, Pakistan and it required to have husky urdu accent which I have worked on. Everything was well thought of for us to shine on our own.So I knew I wouldn’t just be a glam doll nor would I get lost in the crowd.
BYSQ: How was it working with the gang of girls?
AM: Fabulous, the entire time was full of gossip, fun and cheer as we kept encouraging each other.A complete power pack team.
BYSQ: The world now synonyms you with the Calendar Girl fame, but tell us something about Avani Modi & how did she land in the city of hindi cinema?
AM: Thank you so much. Well, I was born and brought up in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Gujarat. When I was 13-14 years old, I knew it in my heart that I wanted to be an actress. I didn’t want to sacrifice on my education, so I completed my graduation in Commerce and side by side was actively participating in theatre, drama plays and modeling assignments. Some few years ago, I decided to come to Mumbai to firmly pursue my dream ahead and since then there has been no looking back.
BYSQ: What kind of feedback have you received so far?
AM: India is a very accepting country with modern influence. And so is this movie.Our society is so stylized, rich and mature to accept reality and move on. The attempt of the movie is also to showcase reality with fiction and improve on the grounds of feeling empowered. This is a journey of 5 girls, how they believe in their dreams, what kind of hurdles they face and become something in life.This movie is dedicated to every women and teaches them to live their dream and everyone has given me an encouraging feedback, they are loving the promos already.
BYSQ: Coming from a non-filmy background and Gujarat popularly known as the dry-state, were you ever considered a rebel?
AM: Oh My God, yes! My dad always called me a rebel. But my parents have always been supportive for the artistic bent of my mind. They gave me wings to fly in an open sky.
BYSQ: In that case, what kind of support did you receive?
AM: My father Vinod Modi was the 1st one who believed in my dream. When I told him about my dream of being an actress, I told him I wanted to take my shot, at least I won’t regret later in my life. And I still remember he hugged me and said “Let’s go Mumbai”. He asked me how he can be of any help, what are my future plans. My family came with me to Mumbai to set up my home pad, he got me admitted to an acting school, he also keeps doing his research and throws in his ideas so I could get closer to realizing my dream, which today I have-thanks to him. He would give me moral support when I would feel down or diasspointed. He always says “Avani you are on the right train to Bollywood, your destination is bound to come..how soon you want to reach towards it, it all depends on you and your hardwork.so just be patient and confident”.
BYSQ: You are the face of ‘Swach Gujarat’ campaign and you share your name with Hon.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, share with us any episodes related to the same?
AM: Yes, we belong to the same Modi community.My father also works for the Government of Gujarat. In fact, Mr.Modi has been very supportive and encouraging for the better of women, I love the ‘Beti Bachao Andolan’ he executes. When I had acted in my first Tamil movie NAAN RAJAVAGA POGIREIN in 2013, he personally invited me and felicitated me with a congratulatory note for my achievement as an actress. I admire him, look up to his ideologies & hard work and feel privileged for being able to experience such a gesture from a revered personality.
BYSQ: You were recently facilitated by Indian Business Association in New Jersey for the 11th India Day Parade with the honor of grand Marshall and a gala dinner.How did it feel?
AM: I was honored and overwhelmed by the way the people in USA have nurtured Indian culture and patriotism.The feeling of being with a crowd of 38-40,000 was so beautiful, pure and insanely full of pride. I was called to represent India at the Independence Day parade but I saw the purity of human relations there, everybody who has started from scratch and today is either a big hotelier or more to someone who has just started their journey, I could only see eyes full of ambition and pride. I express my gratitude to IBA for such a honor.
BYSQ: Straight to the point, are you dating some one?
AM: Not yet..out there, that guy is still waiting who is going to be lucky to be with Avani 😉 Intelligence and sexy eyes would get him a tick on my list (Boys, make a note of it!)
BYSQ: Just 2 sleeps away, your movie ‘Calendar Girls’ releases on 25th September, does it still feel like a dream?
AM: I have dreamed about being a bollywood actress since childhood and now I can’t realize that I am living this dream- somebody pinch me. Before Calendar Girls Iw as dreaming and now I am living my realisty.But this is now just the start of my dream of being a famous bollywood household name.
BYSQ wishes you all the very best Avani.We are sure going by your movie & performance “Tum Taroh ko Nichoddo gi, Asman foddo gi..you will rock your bollywood journey” #Wewillrocktheworld #Onaroll #AvaniModi #NazneenMalik #CalendarGirls.
Check out the trailer and a special shout out Avani gives to BYSQ..Itz Showtime.
Source: ManglMurti Films
