Rashmika Mandanna facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rashmika Mandanna
Mandanna promoting Chhaava in 2025
Born	(1996-04-05) 5 April 1996 (age 28) Virajpet, Karnataka, India
Alma mater	Ramaiah Institute of Technology
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2016–present

Rashmika Mandanna (/rəʃmɪkɑː mənðənɑː/; born 5 April 1996) is an Indian actress who works in Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Tamil films. Her accolades include four SIIMA Awards and a Filmfare Award South. One of South India's highest-paid actresses, she was featured in Forbes India's 2024 list of "30 Under 30".

After a brief modelling career, 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 were controversial 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. Her father owns a coffee estate and a function hall in her hometown, and her mother is a homemaker. She has a younger sister, Shiman who she helped raise and felt like a maternal figure to. 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.

Mandanna attended Coorg Public School, a boarding school in Gonikoppal. During this phase of her life, she was often misunderstood due to her struggles with communication, making connecting with her peers difficult. Mandanna credits her mother for being stabilising influence in her life and labelled her "my biggest strength".

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. In 2014, Mandanna was awarded The Times of India's Clean & Clear Fresh Face that recognises individuals with the greatest potential for future success; 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. This was followed by a brief career in modelling, which she believed would ease her transition into acting. Her parents were initially hesitant towards her pursuit of an acting career due to her unassertive personality, but they ultimately relented.

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. They ended their engagement in September 2018, citing compatibility issues.

Career

Early work and breakthrough (2016–2020)

In 2016, Rashmika made her acting debut in Kirik Party, which went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of the year in Kannada. Sunavana Suresh of The Times of India praised Rashmika in the film stating, "Rashmika Mandanna as Saanvi is easily that pin-up girl in college and she breathes her path." She won a SIMA Award for the Best Debut Actress for the role. In 2017, she appeared in two Kannada films, Anjani Putra and Chamak both becoming commercially successful at the box office.

Rashmika in 2019

In 2018, Rashmika expanded to Telugu cinema with the comedy-drama film, Chalo opposite Naga Shourya. Stivathsan Nadadhur of The Hindu reviewed, "The makers try to slot Rashmika Mandanna into the lively-bubbly space of a female lead and she makes a confident Telugu debut." The film was a commercial success at the box office. Rashmika's second release of 2018 was another Telugu film with the Venky Kudumula-directed Geetha Govindam opposite Vijay Deverakonda. The film was Rashmika's highest grosser up to that point with a gross of ₹132 crores against a budget of ₹5 crores. However, the movie garnered mixed reviews from critics with Haricharan Pudipeddi of Firstpost stating, "Geetha Govindam, despite its flaws, is a film that gets most things right associated with its genre." She earned the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress - South for the role. Rashmika's final release of 2018 was the Sriram Adittya directorial, Devadas. Although it was a commercial success, Rashmika was said to be, "deprived of speaking lines," by Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express.

In 2019, Rashmika returned to Kannada movies with the commercially successful Yajamana opposite Darshan. The age gap between the two leads was criticised by Karthik Keramalu of Film Companion. Rashmika's second and final release of 2019 was the Telugu film Dear Comrade, reuniting her with Devarkonda. However, unlike their previous release, the film failed at the box office marking Rashmika's first commercial failure. The film sparked outrage due to a scene in which Devarkonda and Rashmika are seen kissing with Rashmika defending the scene stating ''The particular scene in the film demanded it and I should do justice to my role. No movie should be judged solely on the basis of a lip-lock scene. It should be seen as a whole''.

In 2020, Rashmika starred opposite Mahesh Babu in the Telugu film Sarileru Neekevvaru, which went on to become one of the highest-grossing Telugu films. However, the film received negative reviews from critics with Rashmika's role being criticised. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu opined, "This isn’t a part by which Rashmika can be judged, because all she gets to do is fawn over Mahesh''. In the same year, she starred in the Telugu film Bheeshma opposite Nithiin, which received critical and commercial acclaim.

Career expansion and commercial success (2021–present)

In the Kannada action drama Pogaru (2021), Mandanna portrayed a good-natured professor opposite Dhruva Sarja. Deccan Herald's Vivek M V criticised her for taking on a role in a film that perpetuated harmful "stereotypes that demean women". In her second release of the year, she made a commercially successful debut into Tamil cinema opposite Karthi in the action drama Sulthan. 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. Though Hindustan Times' Haricharan Pudipeddi thought that Mandanna had been "sidelined", M Suganth of The Times of India praised her on a "charming debut". Her final appearance of the year was in the critically and commercially successful Telugu action film Pushpa: The Rise, starring Allu Arjun. 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. 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". However, Divya Nair of Rediff.com observed that the female characters in the film were reduced to serving solely as visual appeal. 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. Additionally, she received Best Actress (Telugu) nominations at both SIIMA and Filmfare for her performance. She has since credited the success of Pushpa: The Rise with giving her access to a wider variety of roles.

Mandanna at an event promoting Pushpa: The Rise in 2022

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. Keen to showcase her acting skills, she took on a supporting role in the Dulquer Salmaan and Mrunal Thakur-led romantic drama Sita Ramam. 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. Against expectations, the film emerged as a success at the box-office and Mandanna earned her first nomination for Best Supporting Actress (Telugu) at Filmfare. 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). She was initially hesitant to accept the role as she found it difficult to essay a character with dismissive views towards religious rituals, which significantly contrasted with her own faith in them. 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". She earned the Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut for her performance.

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. 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. M Suganth concurred that her role was insubstantial and dismissed her as "arm candy". 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. Her performance was poorly received; In a scathing review for Film Companion, Deepanjana Pal dismissed Mandanna as "unimportant".

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. The film's content led certain commentators to accuse the film of glorifying toxic masculinity and misogyny. 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". 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". Varisu and Animal rank among the highest-grossing Indian films of 2023, with the latter grossing over ₹9 billion (US$150 million).

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. ..... Mandanna defended the representation of toxic masculinity in both the Animal and Pushpa franchises, explaining that such individuals exist in reality, and their hyperbolic depiction is a "cinematic liberty intended to entertain the audience". Pushpa 2: The Rule set several box-office records for an Indian film, earning over ₹18 billion (US$310 million) worldwide to rank as Indian cinema's second biggest-grosser and Mandanna's highest-grosser.

Upcoming projects

Mandanna will next star in two Telugu films and three Hindi films: she will star alongside Dhanush in Sekhar Kammula's Tamil-Telugu bilingual film Kubera and headline the female-led film, The Girlfriend; she will essay Yesubai Bhonsale, opposite Vicky Kaushal's Sambhaji, in the historical drama Chhaava, and star alongside Salman Khan in AR Murugadoss' action film Sikandar. She will also join the Maddock Supernatural Universe, alongside Ayushmann Khurrana, in the romantic horror film Thama. Filming for Thama, Sikandar, and Kubera has been delayed as Mandanna has sustained a leg injury.

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Title	Role(s)	Language(s)	Notes	Ref.
2016	Kirik Party	Saanvi Joseph	Kannada
2017	Anjani Putra	Geetha
	Chamak	Kushi
2018	Chalo	L. Karthika	Telugu
	Geetha Govindam	Geetha
	Devadas	Pooja
2019	Yajamana	Kaveri	Kannada
	Dear Comrade	Aparna "Lilly" Devi	Telugu
2020	Sarileru Neekevvaru	Samskruthi
	Bheeshma	Chaithra
2021	Pogaru	Geetha	Kannada
	Sulthan	Rukmani	Tamil
	Pushpa: The Rise	Srivalli	Telugu
2022	Aadavallu Meeku Johaarlu	Aadhya
	Sita Ramam	Afreen/Waheeda
	Goodbye	Tara Bhalla	Hindi
2023	Varisu	Divya	Tamil
	Mission Majnu	Nasreen Hussain	Hindi
	Animal	Geetanjali Singh
2024	Pushpa 2: The Rule	Srivalli	Telugu
2025	Chhaava	Maharani Yesubai	Hindi	Completed
	Sikandar	TBA		Filming
	The Girlfriend	TBA	Telugu	Completed
	Kubera	TBA	Tamil Telugu
	Thama	TBA	Hindi	Filming

Music video

Awards and nominations