by Kaci
The new Disney Channel Original Movie Spin, starring Avantika Vandanapu, has officially been greenlit. Manjari Makijany will be directing it. The movie will begin production this Fall in Toronto and is set to premiere on the Disney Channel in 2021.
According to Deadline, the movie follows 15-year-old Rhea Kumar, played by Vandanapu, who lives with her tight-knit multigenerational family. Her life revolves around her family’s restaurant, her friends, and her after-school extracurricular coding club. However, everything changes when she falls for aspiring DJ Max, and her long lost passion for music is reignited.
Vandanapu is well-known in India and the U.S. Indian community. She was the runner-up in the first North American edition of ZeeTV’s reality series Dance India Dance Li’l Master and has appeared in several films in Indian cinema.
Makijany is an alum of the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women, the Universal Directors Initiative, and the Fox Filmmakers Lab. Her debut feature, Desert Dolphin, will be released on Netflix in 2021.
