Avantika Akerkar who has appeared in several plays, including Ashes to Ashes, Vagina Monologues and Whatever You Say, recalls her transition to films as being rather comic. Her first day on the sets of Bobby Bedi’s American Daylight had her projecting her voice with vigour like a true theatre actor only to be stopped with a resounding ‘cut’. Director Roger Christian (of Star Wars fame) explained to her that movies and theatre are two very different mediums. Here she didn’t have to ‘throw’ her voice, just speak normally. “Actually I haven’t made a formal shift to movies. I still act in whatever interests me,” she says. Her first commercial release in India, Loins of Punjab Presents, sees her in the role of a famous classical musician who is invited to judge a vocal musical contest. “Labelling this movie in simplistic terms would not be doing it justice. Broadly, it’s a comedy with characters that almost anyone can identify with.” Future releases include Shamim Sarif’s, A World Unseen, which premiered recently at the Toronto Film Festival. If an opportunity presents itself, she’d love to tuck into a juicy Bollywood blockbuster.