Rashmika Mandanna REVEALS Why She Decided To Speak Against Her Deepfake Video: 'I Am Really Scared...'

When Rashmika Mandanna’s deepfake video went viral in November 2023, it left everyone shocked and concerned. While the man behind the viral clip has already been arrested, Rashmika has now revealed why she decided to speak up against her deepfake video. The Pushpa actress recenty appeared on We Are Yuvaa when she shared that it is necessary to talk about such incidents in order to create awareness.

“So many times this happens, and you speak about it, and someone is like, ‘But you chose this job!’ Or you know, ‘This is how it’s going to be.’ ‘Like, why are you talking about it now?’ In my head, the only thing I was thinking about was that if this happened to me in college, I wouldn’t have anyone to come and support me. Because something in our culture is that what society thinks of us is supposed to be us. Like we have to be the way and react how society wants us to, you know, think and react, right?” Rashmika said.

“So imagine some girl in her college had to go through the same thing. And I am like, dude, I am really scared for them. And if I am speaking about it, so there’s at least like 41 million people who know that, okay, there’s something called the deepfake. And this is not right. There’s something that is affecting emotions and causing stress in people in general. So I think bringing out that awareness was important to me,” the actress added.

For the unversed, a morphed video of Rashmika Mandanna went viral on social media in November last year. In the clip, the woman with Rashmika’s face was seen getting into a lift, wearing a fitted outfit. However, it was soon clarified that the viral clip was deepfake. It grabbed everyone’s attention after superstar Amitabh Bachchan also took to the microblogging site X and demanded legal action.

Later, an FIR was filed in connection to the incident under sections 465 (forgery) and 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66C and 66E of the Information Technology Act at the IFSO unit of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell. Later, Delhi Police arrested the man responsible for creating the deepfake video of the actress on January 21, 2024.