Image was shared by sonnalli Seygall. (courtesy: sonnalliseygall)
After a deepfake video of Rashmika Mandanna surfaced on the Internet, several industry friends of the actress have raised their voices in support of her. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was among the first ones to demand legal action against British-Indian influencer Zara Patel. Now, Pyaar Ka Punchnama actress Sonnalli Seygall has expressed her concern in an interview with India Today. She said, “Oh my God, it's scary. Very, very scary. Of course, we have all seen it in the past with pictures, and that was always debatable, but this is so real to the point. I mean, it's so illegal. Immediate action needs to be taken against this. As a girl, as a human being, I don't feel safe because that means anything can be done with whatever is available online.”
Sonnalli Seygall added, “So much of our lives is out there right on the Internet, whether it's social media, Google, or our phones. And it's something we can't avoid. This is the way we function, which means, if it's out there, somebody needs to take onus and responsibility and make sure that we are safe and protected from crimes like these.”
Sonnalli Seygall revealed that something similar had happened to her in the past but not in a video. She said, “Yes, it has happened to me in the past but not in a video, in the form of pictures. And it was very, very scary then. Actually, my mom brought it to my notice and my mom is very gullible and at least at that point when it was also new, she did not understand. It really affected her. She said what are these pictures of yours? And I was like they are not really mom, they are morphed and. So it's very sad.”
The actress added, “It's scary and makes me angry. It's completely illegal and just because they're faceless people doing this does not make it OK by any standards. So yes, it's frustrating and sometimes, we may ignore it or we have to but ideally we shouldn't. But sometimes parents don't know they get more bothered by it because maybe they don't understand the complexities of it, but yeah, it affects them.”
Before this Ishaan Khatter, in conversation with NDTV, condemned the act. The Dhadak star said, “I condemn it. I don't think deepfake is cool. I don't think using somebody's body or voice without their consent is ok. I don't bat for that.”
Mrunal Thakur also put out a detailed statement on her Instagram Stories and wrote, “Shame on people who resort to such things, it shows that there's no conscience left at all in such people. Thank you Rashmika Mandanna for speaking up, and for addressing this issue that so far we have seen glimpses of but a lot of us chose to remain silent. Every day there are morphed, edited videos of female actors floating around on the internet zooming into inappropriate body parts. Where are we heading as a community, and as a society? We may be actresses in the 'limelight' but at the end of the day, each one of us is human. Why aren't we talking about it? Don't remain silent, now is not the time.”
The deepfake video came to the limelight after a user shared it on X (formerly Twitter) and demanded legal action against it. The video grabbed the attention of Amitabh Bachchan, who re-shared the post on November 5 and wrote, “Yes this is a strong case for legal.”
A day later, Rashmika Mandanna reacted to her deepfake video. In a statement, she said, “I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deep fake 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 I could ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity.”
Apart from Amitabh Bachchan, Ishaan Khatter, Mrunal Thakur, South Indian actor Naga Chaitanya and Mast Magan singer Chinmayi Sripaada have also addressed the issue.