SHABIHA NUR KHATOON, OP
At an age when kids play with dolls, Vedika Nawani is already a star, facing the camera with aplomb. She is a model and actor, skillfully balancing academic activities with performances on stage and screen.
The pint-sized talent once used to imitate dialogues while watching television serials. Her stint in modelling started in 2012 with a fashion show where she received accolades from the audience.
A Class VI student of Lokhandwala Foundation School, Vedika faced the camera for the first time in the year 2012. Surprisingly, she was not nervous at allbecause she had always wanted to work in front of the camera, says Vedika’s mother, Sonia.
Vedika adds, “I wasn’t nervous at all the first time I faced the camera. In fact, I was excited that people would see me on TV and I would become famous.The experience was really good. I was delighted to work with big brands in the initial phase.
“I also got a chance to share screen space with Juhi Chawla for an ad shoot and that was the most happening day of my life,” she giggles.
Asked how she manages both studies and her shoots, Vedika says, “Till now, I havenot encountered any problemas I only shoot on Saturdays and Sundays, and if at all there is a shoot on a weekday, it takes place after I am home from school. From 2012 until now, I have not missed any exam.”
Vedika has shown her acting abilities in serials like Ashutosh Gowariker’s Everest. She had a cameo role in Crime Patrol, Kya Hua Tera Wada, and Ye Rista Kya Kehlata Hai. She was a part of the pilot shoot for Disney channel, promo of Supercops vs Supervillain, Shapath and Darr Sabko Lagta Hai.
Vedika has bagged the main lead in three short movies and has also dubbed for the movie Sardarji 2.
Acting apart, Vedika is also interested in other activities like dancing. At present, she isnot taking any formal dance training but she loves to groove to Bollywood numbers.
Sonia describes her daughter as well-behaved and soft-spoken. This is also what Vedika’s teachers used to tell her often. Sonia believes that acting and modelling, at best, can beextra-curricular activities for her daughter. “Vedika is getting many offers for TV serials. But I don’t want her studies to get hampered and I don’t want her to be involved in acting full-time until she finishes her Class X exam. Besides, I don’t want her childhood innocence and experiences to be overshadowed by glitz and glamour. I am a proud mother as success has notaffected her and she takes acting as an extra-curricular activity,” she says.
Sonia adds that Vedika has always been a part of school annual day functions, enthusiastically participating in drama and dance.
Vedika is thankful to her parents and teachers who have helped her reach the position that she has today. “I am thankful to my teachers and parents for their support all through,” she says.