Image shared by Rashmika Mandanna (Courtesy: rashmika_mandanna)
Actor Rashmika Mandanna has denounced a viral deepfake video that appears to show her entering an elevator, describing it as "extremely scary." In a post on X, the Animal star wrote: "I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online. Something like this is honestly, extremely scary not only for me, but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused. Today, as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends and well wishers who are my protection and support system. But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can't imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft."
Read Rashmika Mandanna's post here:
A clip that appears to show Rashmika Mandanna entering an elevator has been circulated widely recently and has shocked the Internet after it was revealed that the woman in the video is actually British-Indian influencer Zara Patel. Ms Patel's face has been morphed into Rashmika Mandanna's using deepfake technology.
Among those outraged by the manipulated video was superstar Amitabh Bachchan who called for legal action. Mr Bachchan and Ms Mandanna co-starred in the film Goodbye.
Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar also responded to the video with a reminder to social media platforms on their legal obligations to battle misinformation.
Rashmika Mandanna, last seen in Mission Majnu, has a big release coming up soon in Animal, co-starring Ranbir Kapoor. She will be seen next year in another massively anticipated film – Pushpa: The Rule, opposite Allu Arjun.