Actor Rashmika Mandanna's latest film, The Girlfriend, hit theatres on Friday. Ahead of the release, the actor attended an interactive session with fans, where she spoke about the film, her co-star Vijay Deverakonda, Pushpa 3, artificial intelligence deepfakes, and her thoughts on relationships.
What's Happening
- During the Honest Townhall event held for The Girlfriend, Rashmika was asked about her idea of love and the qualities she values in a life partner.
- "My type is honestly someone who is capable of understanding at a deep level. I am not talking in the generic sense. It is an understanding of life from his own perspective. How does he perceive certain situations? I want someone who is open to understanding. Someone who is genuinely nice and someone who can fight a war with me, or for me. If there is war against me tomorrow, I know that man will fight with me. I will do the same. I will take a bullet for him any day. That is my kind of person."
- In a light-hearted moment, during a "date, marry, and kill" game, Rashmika said she would date an anime character and marry Vijay Deverakonda, a response that drew loud cheers from the audience.
- Her remarks came amid reports that she and Vijay, who are said to be engaged, will marry in February 2026.
Background
Talking about The Girlfriend, Rashmika explained what drew her to the project. "The reason why I said yes to Girlfriend is because I felt this is a very important story to tell and a very thought-provoking film. This film is like a warm hug. Everyone will be able to relate to this at some point in their life."
"I feel it takes a lot of guts to tell a story like this. Luckily, I have had a great career, and I am using all my success and visibility for a film like this. I want to do this film for me as an actor and as a human being. You have to do something so meaningful that you can give back to your audience. I hope that this film will change at least one person. Then our job is done," she added.
When asked about the possibility of reprising her role as Sreevalli in Pushpa 3, Rashmika said, "I am so happy that you all connected with Sreevalli as a character. You must ask this to Sukumar sir only. I can tell you that Sreevalli 3 will be coming soon."
The actor also addressed the growing issue of AI deepfakes and the potential harm they cause, particularly to young women.
"But it can be used in a great way also. In terms of using ChatGPT or Grok for learning about a particular topic. But since I am an actor, I can look at these deepfake images and videos and think it's fine. But imagine this happening to an ordinary girl. If one day a girl's morphed image is shared in her college. The whole college thinks it's true, even her parents, but who will stand up for this girl? The girl knows that it's not true. So you are battling against something that you don't even know. How can you convince anyone? Some rule has to come to stop this. I don't know. This might even lead to depression and many other issues in kids; I don't want it to get there."