Movies

From Fresh Face To Films, Rashmika Mandanna Narrates Her Story!

Big City Dreams!

Born in the small town of Madikeri in Karnataka, Rashmika had simple upbringing. Her parents, not being ready to send their daughter to the big city, let her pursue her high school in Mysore, before moving to Bangalore to pursue her undergraduate degree in psychology, journalism and literature. Two weeks into college, one of Rashmika’s friends signed her name up for the Fresh Face Bangalore competition. Rashmika, who was completely unaware of what she was getting into, didn’t have a clue about what the competition was all about and found out that her name was enrolled only a day before. However, she went for it.

“I was extremely shy but participated.  I ended up winning at the college level and then it was with other colleges in Bangalore, and finally I was representing the city in an all-India competition. I was called for the finals, went to Bombay and ended up winning the final round.”

 

The limelight suddenly found her. Her name and pictures grew prominent in social media. Front pages of papers started carrying picture of a young girl smiling, with a sash that said Miss Fresh Face. “People started noticing me. I used to roam around and people used to call out. “Hey you’re that Fresh Face girl, nah?” I had a feeling something big was going on around me but I was not able to wrap my head around it,” she recalls.

Unaware of what was happening, Rashmika went back to her regular life, diving into a pool of assignments and projects the semester had ahead. But something kept coming back.

She started auditioning for a couple of movies, series, and short-films, but they weren’t just working out at that time. “The last audition, I went in as a favour for a friend. And I got selected for that. I prepared for the character for three months but unfortunately, the movie never got released.”

Just as she was about to give up all hope, destiny rang her through a phone call. “I got a call from the assistant director of the movie Kirik Party. I remember going to the audition with least confidence. One of my best friends who accompanied me, advised me to give my best shot, as this was a huge opportunity.”

Rashmika walked into that audition believing she won’t make it. But life had its own plans.  She got a call back, and soon, she was reading lines out of the script of her first movie.

Even after the completion of her debut film, Rashmika was still not very sure about herself. Before the movie could even hit big screens she was ready to pack up and start planning her future away from cinema. “I felt I had done something, given my best. The team said it was good enough, but I honestly felt it was time to go back home and probably get into dad’s business.”

Acting comes naturally to me

Once her debut movie was released, it was a hit and people fell in love with the new charming girl they saw in screen.

“That’s the thing about me; I’m still not sure about my work. Acting comes to me naturally. I was watching the movie and I felt I didn’t do much. I just remembered I used to do the shots and they used to be okay within the first two takes. This used to shock me. The same thing happens even now. I don’t know if I know acting. I’m not someone who looks into the monitor to analyse my performance. I leave it to the director’s eyes. If he is happy, I’m happy.”

After her first hit, Rashmika had a string of movies in line. Her second was Telugu rom-com Chalo, on the side was Anjaniputra in Kanada, and in the mean time she was making an announcement about Geetha Govindam. And then came Chamak, Dev Das, Dear Comrade and now Sarileru Neekevvaru where she stars along with Mahesh Babu.

She is currently shooting for Beesham in Telugu, Sultan in Tamil and Pogaru in Kannada.

 

 

 

X
back to top icon
More in Movies
Movies Releasing In Theatres This Week !

Weekends...

Did Aditi Rao Hydari and Siddharth Just Get Married In A Secret Ceremony?

Siddharth...

Close