Mandanna made her acting debut with the Kannada romantic comedy Kirik Party (2016), and found further commercial success in the action picture Anjani Putra and romance Chamak (both 2017). In Telugu cinema, she had her breakthrough with the romantic comedy Geetha Govindam (2018), which earned her the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Telugu. She later played the leading lady in the Telugu action comedies Devadas (2018) and Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020), the romance Bheeshma (2020), as well as in the Tamil action films Sulthan (2021) and Varisu (2023). Even so, her inclination towards androcentric films drew criticism for providing limited scope to showcase her acting abilities.
Mandanna earned wider recognition with the pan-India success of the action film Pushpa: The Rise (2021). After playing a supporting role in the period drama Sita Ramam (2022), she expanded to Hindi cinema with two unremarkable films. She had her highest-grossing releases with the action dramas Animal (2023) and Pushpa 2: The Rule (2024), both of which received criticism for their toxic masculine narratives. In addition to acting, Mandanna serves as the ambassador of several brands and products.
Early and personal life
Rashmika Mandanna was born on 5 April 1996 to Suman and Madan Mandanna into a Kodava Hindu family in Virajpet, a town in Kodagu district, Karnataka.[1][2] Her father owns a coffee estate and a function hall in her hometown, and her mother is a homemaker.[3] She has a younger sister, Shiman who she helped raise and felt like a maternal figure to.[3][4] As a child, her family struggled financially, and had difficulties finding a home and paying rent; according to Mandanna, her parents could not afford to buy her toys and the experience has continued to taint her relationship with money.[5]
Mandanna attended Coorg Public School, a boarding school in Gonikoppal.[6] During this phase of her life, she was often misunderstood due to her struggles with communication, making connecting with her peers difficult.[7] Mandanna credits her mother for being stabilising influence in her life and labelled her "my biggest strength".[7]
Mandanna studied for a bachelor's degree in psychology, Journalism and English Literature at M. S. Ramaiah College of Arts, Science and Commerce in Bangalore.[8] In 2014, Mandanna was awarded The Times of India'sClean & Clear Fresh Face that recognises individuals with the greatest potential for future success;[9] the award was presented to her by Akshay Kumar and she was subsequently made a brand ambassador for Clean & Clear as part of the winning reward.[10][11] This was followed by a brief career in modelling, which she believed would ease her transition into acting.[11] Her parents were initially hesitant towards her pursuit of an acting career due to her unassertive personality, but they ultimately relented.[12]
Mandanna began dating Rakshit Shetty, her co-star in Kirik Party, during the making of the film, and they announced their engagement on 3 July 2017 at a private party in her hometown Virajpet.[13] They ended their engagement in September 2018, citing compatibility issues.[14]
Career
Early work and breakthrough (2016–2020)
After noticing her win a pageant in 2015, Rishab Shetty offered Mandanna her debut in his Kannada romantic comedy Kirik Party (2016), opposite Rakshit Shetty.[15] She was introduced as Saanvi, a college student with ambitions of becoming an engineer; Mandanna identified strongly with the character's sense of invisibility and studious nature.[16] Writing for The Times of India, Sunayana Suresh praised Mandanna's performance, writing that she "is easily that pin-up girl in college and she breathes her path".[17]Kirik Party emerged as one of the highest-grossing Kannada films and her performance earned her the SIIMA Award for Best Debut Actress.[18][19] Mandanna later revealed that if the film had failed, she would have returned home to manage her father's business.[20] Her commercial success was sustained with her 2017 releases—the action picture Anjani Putra and the romantic comedy Chamak.[21] In the former, The Indian Express noted that she had been reduced to "a hero's arm candy", but in the latter, Firstpost's Karthik Kermalu commended Mandanna for enhancing a mediocre picture.[22][23] For Chamak, she received her first Best Actress nominations at Filmfare and SIIMA.[24][25]
Expanding to Telugu cinema in 2018, Mandanna starred opposite Naga Shaurya in the comedy drama Chalo, in which they played a couple from opposing groups struggling to maintain their relationship within a heavily segregated fictional village. She initially struggled with grasping Telugu but improved her diction and dialogue delivery with guidance from the assistant director.[26] In mixed reviews of the film, Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost lauded her "terrific debut" and Stivathsan Nadadhur from The Hindu appreciated her comic timing.[27][28]Chalo emerged as her fourth consecutive box-office success in two years.[29] Mandanna was next cast opposite Vijay Deverakonda in Venky Kudumula's romantic comedy Geetha Govindam. Despite its shoestring budget, the film became her first to cross ₹1 billion (US$13 million) at the domestic box-office.[30] Reviewers of the film were generally pleased with the chemistry between the lead pair, but found the plot monotonous.[31][32][33] She earned the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Telugu.[34] Mandanna ended the year with the Telugu feature Devadas, in which she was dismissed as ornamental by reviewers for Sify and The Indian Express.[35][36]
The Kannada social action film Yajamana (2019) follows a man (played by Darshan) that attempts to prevent a business tycoon from exploiting a village of its oil. The film garnered mixed reviews from critics, with Karthik Keramalu particularly criticising the significant age gap between Mandanna and Darshan.[37][38] Regardless, she earned another Best Actress award at SIIMA for her performance, and the film became yet another successful financial venture for Mandanna.[39][40] She then reunited with Deverakonda for the Telugu romantic drama Dear Comrade, in which she portrayed an aspiring cricket player who faces sexism and discrimination from within the sport.[41] The intense role marked a departure from the mostly light-hearted parts she had played before and, in preparation, she underwent five months of "rigorous physical training" to authentically emulate the body language of a cricket player before filming commenced.[42] However, the pair were unable to replicate the success of their previous film and it ultimately emerged as a box-office failure.[43][44] The film also faced extensive criticism from audiences due to a scene featuring a kiss between Deverakonda and Mandanna;[45] when asked about the scene, Mandanna said that she was carrying out what the script required of her, and that a sole scene should not be dictatorial of the entire film.[46] She later admitted that she struggled to cope with the significant backlash she faced online following the films release.[47]
Mandanna began the new decade opposite Mahesh Babu in the action comedy Sarileru Neekevvaru, which went on to become a top-grossing Telugu film.[48] Her role, however, was poorly received by critics;[49][50] Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu bemoaned that her character did not offer her adequate scope to perform as "all she gets to do is fawn over Mahesh".[51] She then featured in the romantic comedy Bheeshma opposite Nithiin. Despite its ambivalent reception critically, the film achieved commercial success at the box-office.[52] Karthik Keramalu dismissed Mandanna as an "accessory," but Hemanth Kumar of Firstpost argued that she "shines in her role".[53][54]
Career expansion (2021–present)
In the Kannada action drama Pogaru (2021), Mandanna portrayed a good-natured professor opposite Dhruva Sarja.[55]Deccan Herald's Vivek M V criticised her for taking on a role in a film that perpetuated harmful "stereotypes that demean women".[56] In her second release of the year, she made a commercially successful debut into Tamil cinema opposite Karthi in the action drama Sulthan.[57] She expressed that working across languages is important to her as she does not wish to view language as a barrier and, instead, sees it as an opportunity to establish herself across industries.[58] Though Hindustan Times' Haricharan Pudipeddi thought that Mandanna had been "sidelined", M Suganth of The Times of India praised her on a "charming debut".[59] Her final appearance of the year was in the critically and commercially successful Telugu action film Pushpa: The Rise, starring Allu Arjun.[60] For her role as a girl involved in the smuggling syndicate of red sandalwood, she learnt the Chittoor dialect of Telugu with support from a tutor.[61] Film Companion's Mukesh Manjunath found that she did her "best to imbue bubbliness and the innocence required in these testosterone-charged surroundings" but lamented that the brown-facing of her character was "unnecessary and ineffective".[62] However, Divya Nair of Rediff.com observed that the female characters in the film were reduced to serving solely as visual appeal.[63] Ranking among the highest-grossing Telugu films of all time, the film marked a significant breakthrough in Mandanna's career as she earned pan-India recognition for it.[64][65] She has since credited the success of Pushpa: The Rise with giving her access to a wider variety of roles.[66]
The following year, Mandanna starred in a string of films with varying levels of success. She started with the unremarkable Telugu feature Aadavallu Meeku Johaarlu opposite Sharwanand.[67] Keen to showcase her acting skills, she took on a supporting role in the Dulquer Salmaan and Mrunal Thakur-led romantic drama Sita Ramam.[68] Citing it as one her better films, Sangeetha Devi Dundoo appreciated that Mandanna is "given the scope to play a self-centred character" and showed that she is willing to take on well-written roles.[69] Against expectations, the film emerged as a success at the box-office.[70] Initially set to debut in Hindi cinema with Mission Majnu, delays led Mandanna to instead make her first appearance alongside Amitabh Bachchan in Vikas Bahl's family drama Goodbye, as a career-focused woman coming to terms with the loss of her mother (played by Neena Gupta).[71][72] She was initially hesitant to accept the role as she found it difficult to essay a character with dismissive views towards religiousrituals, which significantly contrasted with her own faith in them.[73] Though a box-office bomb, her performance was well received by Devesh Sharma of Filmfare who appreciated the subtlety she brought to her scenes and particularly her ability to "leave an impact even in this non-glamorous debut".[74][75] She earned the Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut for her performance.[76]
2023 saw Mandanna in three action films—Varisu, Mission Majnu and Animal. Varisu tells the story of a young heir (played by Vijay) who takes over his family's business empire following his father's death; she starred as Vijay's love interest.[77] Mandanna labelled it a "conscious choice" to star in the film despite having a role "with nothing to do" due to the recognition she would receive from Vijay's celebrity.[78] M Suganth concurred that her role was insubstantial and dismissed her as "arm candy".[79]Netflix's unremarkable Hindi spy thriller Mission Majnu featured Mandanna as a visually-impaired woman opposite Sidharth Malhotra and marked her foray into streaming. In preparation, she participated in intensive workshops to better her understanding on the behaviours of the visually-impaired and found it challenging not to be able to look Malhotra in the eyes during their scenes together.[80] Her performance was poorly received;[81][82] In a scathing review for Film Companion, Deepanjana Pal dismissed Mandanna as "unimportant".[83]
Sandeep Reddy Vanga's controversial Animal—starring Ranbir Kapoor—cast Mandanna as a devoted housewife who learns of her husband's debauched behaviours. She replaced Parineeti Chopra during filming as Vanga felt she was better suited for the role.[84] The film's content led certain commentators to accuse the film of glorifying toxic masculinity and misogyny.[85][86]WION's Shomini Sen praised Mandanna for salvaging a poorly-written character that had been constrained by Vanga's focus on "a skewed version of an alpha male".[87] Following criticism regarding her character's perceived complicity in allowing misogyny, Mandanna defended her role, stating that Geetanjali was "the only force at home holding her family together".[88]Varisu and Animal rank among the highest-grossing Indian films of all time, with the latter grossing over ₹9.17 billion (US$110 million).[89][90][91]
In 2024, Mandanna reprised her role as Srivalli in the Telugu action sequel Pushpa 2: The Rule. Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in was appreciative of her chemistry with Allu Arjun and added that she "has several strong sequences to justify her presence" in an androcentric narrative.[92]The Indian Express's Anandu Suresh was displeased with the hypersexualisation of her role, and took note of a recurring theme in her filmography of playing the love interest of "unnervingly eccentric" men.[93] Mandanna defended the representation of toxic masculinity in both Animal and the Pushpa franchise, explaining that such individuals exist in reality, and their hyperbolic depiction is a "cinematic liberty intended to entertain the audience".[94]Pushpa 2: The Rule set several box-office records for an Indian film, grossing over ₹14 billion (US$170 million) worldwide to rank as Indian cinemas third-biggest-grosser.[95][96]
Sneha Menon Desai of Film Companion notes Mandanna's sincerity and "down-to-earth personality", while Anupama Chopra, also from Film Companion, describes her as "intelligent" and acknowledges her ability to resonate with audiences.[99][100]
In 2024, Mandanna was featured by Forbes India in their 30 Under 30 list and the Indian edition of GQ named her among South India's highest-paid actresses.[101][102] She was placed at the 24th position in Bangalore Times' 25 Most Desirable Women of 2016 and also appeared in the Bangalore Times' 30 Most Desirable women of 2017.[103][104] In October 2021, she placed first in Forbes India's most influential stars on Instagram in South Cinema.[105] As of August 2024, Mandanna is the most-followed Kannada actress on Instagram.[106]
In November 2023, a deepfake of Mandanna was posted on the platform X by digital marketer Eemani Naveen.[117] Her face was morphed on to a sexually suggestive Instagram video posted by a British-Indian influencer named Zara Patel.[118] In response, Mandanna released a statement saying she was "[scared] 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".[119] She received support from prominent figures in Indian cinema, including her Goodbye co-star Amitabh Bachchan, who spoke out against the dangers of such deepfakes.[120] In December 2023, Delhi Police "communicated with Meta to obtain the URL ID associated with the account responsible for generating the video", and filed a First information report (FIR) in relation to the case.[121] In January 2024, Naveen was arrested; he claimed he had created the deepfake to gain followers on Instagram.[122] Following the incident, Mandanna was appointed as the national brand ambassador of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C).[123]
