Rashmika Mandanna opens up on 'painful' prep to play blind girl in Mission Majnu: 'I used to have such bad headaches...'

Rashmika Mandanna, who plays a visually-impaired character in her next film Mission Majnu, recounts the painful preparation she underwent for the role.

Rashmika Mandanna is set for a prolific year at the movies. The actor is set to star in four films in three different languages, the first of which is her maiden direct OTT release—Mission Majnu. The Sidharth Malhotra-starrer sees Rashmika play a visually-impaired character for the first time in her life. In a chat with Hindustan Times, the actor opens up on how she prepared for the role and how big of a challenge it was for her.

Rashmika Mandanna during the promotions of her film Mission Majnu. (PTI) (PTI)

Talking about why she took on the challenge, Rashmika says, “As an actor, I have never done that. Again, this is a retro sort of film so I had to wear those costumes and at the same time, I had to take training for the visual aspect. I wondered how I would pull this off because it was so new for me.”

But the process of acting while not using her eyes was a difficult one, Rashmika recalls. “I am this person who has to speak looking in the eye. I can’t look at anyone else while having a conversation. But in the whole film, I can’t look at Tariq (Sidharth’s character). This is so hard to do, I thought. I don’t come from a background of studying acting. I have to live those moments to feel it. But this was a challenge,” she shares.

And before she faced the camera, Rashmika had to undergo special training to understand the body language and awareness of visually-impaired people. She recalls, “I went through a couple of weeks of taxing workshops. I used to have such bad headaches towards the end of it. They would blindfold you and throw tennis balls at you so that you had to sense where it was coming. That was really painful and gruelling.”

Mission Majnu is a spy thriller directed by Shantanu Bagchi. The film also stars Parmeet Sethi, Kumud Mishra, Rajit Kapur, Arjan Bajwa, and Sharib Hashmi. It will be released on Netflix on January 20, 2023. Rashmika also has Animal, Varisu, and Pushpa: The Rise in the pipeline, all of which are slated to release in 2023.