NANDINI KANHERE
'Madhavi'
INandhini Kanhere is an Indian-American Actress Filmmaker based in San Francisco, California. In high school and college, she won awards for the swim team and for her Khatak dance performances while continuing her studies in Science and Dance. After a pause to raise her family, she studied filmmaking which led her to write, direct and edit several short films and commercials, winning awards along the way.
Her versatility in different accents and languages allowed her to do voice-overs and dub for many industrial, animation, documentary and feature projects. Her acting credits include numerous roles in short films like The Program, Reconnection, The Dance, Nino & The Usual Story, The Birdcage and a co-starring role in a primetime TV series in India called Nakalat Care Ghadale.
She is slated to act in a lead role for an independent feature to be shot in Australia in 2022. MADHAVI will be her third collaboration with Director Jacintha Charles.
NYARA AFSHAR
'Sonia'
Nyara Afshar, who will play the role of Sonia, is incredibly excited to join the cast of “Madhavi”. Nyara lives in San Francisco with her family and is a rising 8th grader at Marin Country Day School. Her work primarily focuses on musical theater where she has played the roles of Jane Banks in “Mary Poppins”, the Fairy Godmother in “Cinderella”, and Wednesday Addams in “The Addams Family”.
She is currently performing as Gabrielle Montez in the Broadway Artists Alliance performance of “High School Musical, The Freshman Cast”. One of her favorite opportunities has been performing with the San Francisco Opera as part of the Children’s Chorus in their production of Hansel and Gretel in 2019. She is an accomplished singer, pianist, and guitarist. She has transitioned to on-camera acting and has had roles in a music video, a national back to school promo, and a national commercial.
She is represented by DDO Kids and Brave Artists Management in Los Angeles. Nyara is grateful for the support of her family and friends as she pursues her dream of acting.
ANJU PRAKASH
'Hema'
Anju Prakash has performed in multiple mainstage plays and readings with South Asian drama companies in the Bay Area. Favorite roles include Dolon in Mahesh Elkunchwar's Sonata, Saroja Kunigal in Girish Karnad's Boiled Beans on Toast, Miss Clubs in Tagore's The Kingdom of Cards, Meera in Sindu Singh's Suprabhatam, and Devi Paanwaali in Sharad Joshi's Ek Tha Gadha Urf Aladad Khan.
Anju is a full-time technical writer by profession. Apart from performance-acting and watching movies and plays, Anju loves traveling and is an avid follower of the Indian cricket team.
Sonia Sawkar is a San Francisco based actor. Over the past several years she has starred in many short films, feature films and theatrical plays. Her lead performance as Jenny in the dark comedy "Let's Kill Jessica" in 2019 made headlines and received rave reviews.
She most recently starred in the war drama short film 'Abandoned' which is currently making its rounds in the festival circuits. She is currently writing, directing and starring in the dark comedy episodic pilot 'Cray' that will be filming later this year.
Sonia currently studies at Z/A Studios in San Francisco under the tutelage of Robert Zimmerman and Peter Allas.
SONIA SAWKAR
'Priya'
TINA D'ELIA
'Lydia'
Tina D’Elia, is an award-winning casting director, acting teacher, and performance coach. She has cast feature films, short films, webseries, music videos, voice overs, and industrials in the Bay Area since 2009. The vast array of projects include Chosen Fam, Bit., Steep Town, Women is Losers, A Wake, Cold Pressed, Lake Merritt Monster, The Gift, Transfinite, and Median.
Tina has also worked as a casting associate for Nina Henninger Casting, CSA, casting prolific and famed projects like Guitar Man, HBO television series Looking, Netflix series Sense8, and Discovery ID shows I Almost Got Away with it, Wives with Knives, and Cuff Me if you Can.
She received the Trailblazer Award in 2015 and the Diversity Casting Award in 2017 from the Equality International Film Festival for casting. Her outreach extends to diverse communities including BIPOC, Youth, LGBTQ, and people with disabilities. Tina is honored to be listed in Curve Magazine’s “Power List” (2017) and Go Magazine, “100 Women We Love” (2019).