Hera Pheri, the cult classic comedy film, directed by Priyadarshan, completed 20 years on March 31, 2020. The movie, starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and Paresh Rawal, is still a fan favorite for its hilarious twists, iconic dialogues and memorable characters.
While most fans remember iconic characters like ‘Raju’ (Akshay Kumar), ‘Baburao Ganpatrao Apte’ (Paresh Rawal), ‘Kabira’ (Gulshan Grover) and more, some might have forgotten the little girl, ‘Rinku’, who gets kidnapped in the film and whose kidnapping sets the entire chaos in motion. That girl is Ann Alexia Anra. Today, she is 30 years old and completely unrecognizable in her recent photos.
Who is Annie?
Ann Alexia Anra was born and brought up in Chennai. She started her career early in life. She has been a child artist in prominent films in both Bollywood and Kollywood. Her famous roles include, the kidnapped girl in Hera Pheri, the daughter of Kamal Hassan and Meena in Avvai Shanmugi.
Despite her early success in film, she did only 4 films (Avvai Shanmugi, Hera Pheri, Thaayin Manikodi and Hathyara). According to her, her parents supported her for acting in advertisements, but not in films because of the time commitment. They allowed her to do Hera Pheri only because it was shot during her summer holidays. After that, her parents decided that she should not pursue acting any further and she respects that decision till today.
Her fun memories on set
Annie shared her experience and memories during an interview, while celebrating 20 years of Hera Pheri. She remembered the fun on set, pranks played by Akshay Kumar and she spoke about the one incident where Paresh Rawal scolded her for approaching the camera. She also said that she used to take sweets and chocolates which she was offered by the stars there. She also mentioned that, at that time, she was not familiar with the film industry and did not know the stars she was working with, which helped her feel less nervous while shooting.
What is Annie doing now?
After quitting acting, she focused on her education. She earned a French government scholarship, which allowed her to study in France and complete her undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA). She returned to India, after that and started her professional journey with an advertising agency and later, at a software company. Today, she is a social media and digital marketing expert, building her career in that field.
Life after the Spotlight
Annie now calls herself an ex-actress. She has no plans of returning to films, although she sometimes gets offers for commercials, which she accepts. In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, she said
“People think I’d want to return to acting, but I was better as a child actor. I don’t want to put in the effort to come back.”
Now, she has used and invested that energy into environmental advocacy and sustainable living. She currently runs initiatives like, ‘Take Me Back’ and ‘Wasted 360 Solutions’. Both initiatives aim to raise awareness about the environmental impact of urban living and promote responsible habits among communities.
The Pandemic brought back curiosity
During the Covid-19 lockdown, classic films like Hera Pheri, Avvai Shanmugi and more experienced a spike in popularity. With films accessible with just a click, people ended up re-watching these iconic films. Memes, particularly, from Hera Pheri re-surfaced on social media. The unforgettable trio of ‘Baburao’, ‘Raju’ and ‘Shyam’ was once again winning hearts all over the internet.
As the memes were winning hearts on social media, on the other side the audience was getting curious about film characters. One such character that made people curious was ‘Rinku’, the kidnapped girl aka Annie from Hera Pheri. ‘Who is she’ became a trending question. Similarly, among the Tamil audience, it was the film, Avvai Shanmugi.
This curiosity began the hunt of Annie, eventually discovering her real-life journey. It came out as a surprise to everyone that the famous child actor has chosen a completely different field, as an entrepreneur and is no longer into acting. Fans who expected to find a present-day actor or influencer instead found an individual committed to environmental change, working on-ground in Chennai to promote waste management and green living. Her journey highlighted how some child actors don’t go behind stardom, instead choose to make a different kind of impact on the world.
Ann Alexia Anra’s transition from a child actor to a dedicated sustainability expert is both unexpected and encouraging. While her roles in Hera Pheri and Avvai Shanmugi will be remembered fondly, her contributions to environmental awareness and waste management define her today.
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