How Dubai girl Kashvi Majmundar became youngest TOIFA Best debut winner in Samantha Ruth Prabhu spy show

Dubai: “I felt really ecstatic and overwhelmed… I was proud of myself and it feels unreal."

That was 10-year-old Dubai kid Kashvi Majmundar reacting to her TOIFA Best Debut win for Citadel: Honey Bunny earlier this weekend in Mumbai. She didn’t beat child actors. She beat adults — Aneet Padda from Big Girls Don’t Cry, Lisa Mishra from Call Me Bae, and Aaliya Qureishi from Bandish Bandits Season 2.

“Just getting nominated was such a big deal with such good actors. I thought I will get the debut of the year… This is my career’s first ever award for my acting gig. The show gave me global exposure," said Kashvi exclusively to Gulf News.

For context: Kashvi won for portraying the younger version of Nadia, the character played by Priyanka Chopra Jonas in the global Citadel franchise. It wasn’t a cameo. It was legacy casting — a role most actors chase for a decade. Kashvi didn’t have to wait.

“Ever since I saw PeeCee take on the world, I knew I wanted to be like her,” she said.

The beginning wasn’t Mumbai. It was Abu Dhabi.

Kashvi’s Bollywood entry didn’t come through family connections or movie studios. It started when actress and dancer Nora Fatehi spotted her in Abu Dhabi and handpicked her to perform on stage at IIFA. That moment became her professional ignition — one performance away from casting director Mukesh Chhabra, and then to Raj & DK, the showrunning duo behind Citadel: Honey Bunny.

Suddenly, a Dubai schoolgirl was on a Prime Video global production, produced by the Russo Brothers, alongside Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu.

And she wasn’t intimidated.
“Varun bhaiya and Samdi made every moment magical on set,” she said. “We’d finish a scene, and she’d say, ‘Who’s the best?’ I’d say, ‘You are,’ and she’d say, ‘No, you are!’”
She remembers warmth more than pressure. Confidence, not nerves.

Then the series dropped — and blew up.

Citadel: Honey Bunny launched at No. 1 on Prime Video India, entering the Top 10 in nearly 150 markets worldwide. As a child, Kashvi isn’t allowed to watch the entire series — but she knows exactly what the world thinks.
“I am so grateful because everyone’s saying I have been so good in this show. I have been looking forward to its release for a long time.”

Dubai hasn’t turned her into a diva.

She still goes to school. Classmates often ask if she’s “that girl from the ad.” Some search her name during lunch breaks. Her Instagram — monitored by her mother — recently crossed 176,000 followers, a number that doesn’t just reflect curiosity. It reflects an audience waiting to see what she does next.

Kashvi insists she was born to dance — a child who learns choreography the way other kids learn multiplication. But she won’t be a dancer who occasionally acts.
“My dream is always to become an actor. I don’t want to be just any other actor; I want to be a good actor – an all-rounder.”
Gymnastics, singing, acting — she treats them as skills to master, not hobbies that fade with age.

And she’s already collecting advice from industry heavyweights. Salman Khan once sang Happy Birthday to her. Shahid Kapoor told her never to quit dancing. She remembers their words clearly. She intends to use them.

The Dubai generation

Kashvi is an emblem of the UAE’s new creative class — children who are global without trying, ambitious without apology, and grounded without theatrics. Born in Australia. Moved to Dubai because her father took a job. No Bollywood lineage. No godfathers. One moment on stage leads to a casting director, then a global production, then a TOIFA trophy.

So when I asked her about the future — about what comes next after beating adult contenders, starring in a Russo Brothers production, and becoming Priyanka Chopra’s younger shadow — she didn’t complicate it.
She simply smiled and said:
“This is just the beginning.”