'Fulbright Fellowship, science nerd, hardcore leftist in JNU'; More about actress Nikhila Vimal's sister

Actress Nikhila Vimal's sister recently embraced asceticism and stepped into a world of spirituality. She will henceforth be known as Avantika Bharti. She took the vows of asceticism from Juna Peethadheeshwar Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Swami Avdheshanand Giri Ji Maharaj.

Akhila and Nikhila are the children of Kalamandalam Vimaladevi and MR Pavithran. Following in the footsteps of their mother, both studied dance. Nikhila had her foray into a cinema at a tender age and slowly but steadily enough has established a name in the industry. Akhila though liked movies was not interested in pursuing a career in that domain.

And now, Akhila’s friend and writer R Ramanand has penned a note on social media which is getting talked about.

R Ramanand:

"Avantika Bharti is all over the news now. I have known her from a very young age. Both of us studied at JNU. From those days, I knew Akhila as a book nerd, madly curious about Indian science, Ayurveda, Tantra or Sanskrit. She was diligently into it.

Interestingly, while espousing everything Indian, Akhila was a strong supporter of the left ideology while on campus. We have gone on a trip to Kashi a long time ago. On the way to Sarnath, both of us lost our wallets. Those were interesting times. Later I dialed Ramesh Korappath who connected us with a man named Suresh Nair from Banaras who helped us financially to get back to Delhi.

Akhila excelled in academics and was studying in America after completing her Ph.D. on a Fulbright scholarship. She has also published many papers in reputed journals. The media should have discussed her topic as an IITian turned ascetic. There was no need to rope in her film actress sister to the whole thing. As far as I know, Akhila has been into spirituality for the last 10 years.

People should understand one thing. Juna Akhada, the major spiritual force at the Kumbh, doesn’t have a tradition of easily accepting people into their cult. People may have differences with Nikhila’s politics, but it should not be used to denigrate her sister."