Rashmika Mandanna – South Indian film actress of ‘Geetha Govindam’ fame

Rashmika Mandanna is one of the most popular and most successful young heroines of Telugu and Kannada cinema. By the age of only 23, she became one of the very few actresses to enter Tollywood 100-crore club in a short span. She marked her screen debut with 2016 blockbuster Kannada film Kirik Party, and later gave a series of hits – Anjani Putra (2017), Chamak (2017) and Yajamana (2019) in Kannada and Chalo (2018), Geetha Govindam (2018), Devadas (2018) and in Telugu within a short span of three years. Chalo marked her successful debut in Tollywood. She played lead role opposite Allu Arjun in Pushpa and its sequel, which is her most successful film series up-to-date. Her supporting role in Sita Ramam was also popular. Her lead role opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Animal, which is her most successful Bollywood film till now. She played Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter in drama film, Good Bye which marked her Bollywood debut.

Rashmika Mandanna was born in Virajpet, Kodagu district, Karnataka in 1996. She started modelling in 2012 during her college days, and appeared in a couple of ads. She won the Clean & Clear Fresh Face of India 2012 title, became the brand ambassador of the company and also got the title of TVC in Lamode Bangalore’s top model hunt 2013 at the age of 17. It paved her way to films.

The team of Kirik Party got impressed by her pictures, and signed her for female lead in 2014, though the movie got delayed for two years. The movie co-starring Rakshit Shetty became a huge hit, and she started getting more roles from Kannada cinema. After three hits back-to-back, she got offers from Telugu cinema, which she accepted. With a handful of films in her kit, she stars opposite ‘Geetha Govindam’ co-star Vijay Devarakonda in Dear Comrade and has also signed first Tamil film opposite Karthi. Sulthan released in 2021 marked her Tamil debut. Later she was casted opposite Vijay in Varisu.

Rashmika worked with several lead actors across the industries

The turning point of her career was signing Sukumar’s Pushpa: The Rise opposite Allu Arjun in 2021. The movie received Pan Indian success, and some Bollywood projects.  She marked her Bollywood debut in Good Bye in 2022. The following year, she lead two Bollywood films – Mission Majnu and Animal opposite Siddharth Malhotra and Ranbir Kapoor respectively, which made her popular among Bollywood viewers as well. Later she reprised her role as Srivalli in Pushpa 2: The Rule. The movie released in 2024 became the highest grossing film in Indian box office, breaking all collection records. She did two more Bollywood films – Chhaava opposite Vicky Kaushal and Sikandar opposite Salman Khan. 

Rashmika Mandanna – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Rashmika Mandanna is one of the very rare heroines of Indian film industry, who gave hat-trick hits for the first three releases in two different languages. She got a hat-trick with Kannada movies first, followed by Telugu cinema, thus catapulting to stardom.

2. She met Rakshit Shetty during the film shooting of her debut flick – Kirik Party. They dated for a brief period, got engaged in 2017 and broke up after one year citing compatibility issues.

3. South Indian actress Samyuktha Hegde also marked her screen debut with Rashmika’s debut flick, Kirik Party which was a major hit.

4. She won SIIMA for best debutant in Kannada for Kirik Party and many other awards for her performance in Geetha Govindam, Anjani Putra and Chalo. She won Filmfare Critics Choice Award for best actress in Telugu for Geetha Govindam.

5. She was previously linked to Bollywood actor Pulkit Samrat and later with Vijay Deverakonda, though she never openly accepted it.

6. She was voted among the ’25 Most Desirable Women in 2016’ by Bangalore Times.