The Girlfriend director says young girl replicating Rashmika Mandanna’s dupatta scene after screening is not ‘PR stunt’

Rahul Ravindran clarified that the moment involving a young fan was spontaneous, not staged. He also questioned societal biases about cultural expressions.

Actor-director Rahul Ravindran’s romantic drama The Girlfriend, starring Rashmika Mandanna and Dheekshith Shetty, released in cinemas on November 7. The film opened to mixed reviews from critics but received a largely positive response from audiences. Recently, a video of a young girl recreating Rashmika’s look from the film, and later removing her dupatta after the screening (like Rashmika does in the climax), surfaced online, prompting widespread speculation about whether it was a PR stunt. Now, the film’s director has responded.

Rahul Ravindran defended a young girl copying Rashmika Mandanna's look from The Girlfriend.

Rahul Ravindram says young girl replicating Rashmika Mandanna's look from The Girlfriend not a PR stunt

In the video in question, the young girl tells Rahul after the screening, “My friends and I came dressed as Bhoomi (Rashmika’s character), but after watching the climax, I feel like taking off this dupatta and facing life head-on.” Reacting to this, an X user wrote, “@GeethaArts was this girl invited for the success meet, or was she paid only to remove the dupatta and hug @23_rahulr after the screening?”

Rahul Ravindran later took to X and penned a long note clarifying that the moment was not staged. He wrote, “I didn’t want to react to any of this so as not to draw any more negativity towards the girl. But the accusations keep getting more and more baseless. Firstly, 20 minutes before reaching this theatre, we were trying to decide between two different theatres. We weren’t even sure we were going to this one. I now wish we hadn’t. We had no idea who was sitting where. Let alone planting someone. So no… this is definitely not a PR stunt. Whatever happened was purely spontaneous.”

After the screening, the filmmaker connected the girl with Rashmika, who praised the young fan for her appreciation. Rahul also shared this video on Instagram, revealing that he had initially been reluctant to post it because he feared a section of social media would troll the girl — but shared it with her consent.

Rahul further wrote that the backlash revealed a chance for introspection regarding societal biases. “One girl taking off her dupatta as a symbolic gesture has caused a meltdown among a small section of people. They’re suddenly concerned about ‘preserving our culture’. I wonder why nobody gets triggered when, week after week, men rip open their shirts before an action scene. I’m not saying they should be triggered — that would be spectacularly silly — I’m only questioning micro biases. Nobody bats an eyelid when men take off their shirts to celebrate their favourite team’s victory, or on New Year’s, or while dancing drunk to their favourite songs. And nobody should. It’s beautiful to see happy people expressing themselves.”

He concluded by questioning why women alone bear the burden of “culture”. “How come many in this small section don’t walk around in dhotis every day? Why have they switched to trousers? Why do many of them tweet in English, if preserving our culture matters so much? These questions sound stupid and immature, don’t they? Then why is it acceptable to hold women to a different standard? I don’t have the answers.”

About The Girlfriend

Directed by Rahul Ravindran, the film follows postgraduate student Bhooma Devi (Rashmika), who is gaslighted into falling in love with Vikram (Dheekshith), the college heart-throb. She soon finds herself trapped in a toxic relationship she struggles to escape. Produced by Dheeraj Mogilineni and Vidya Koppineni, the film also stars Anu Emmanuel and Rao Ramesh in key roles. So far, the film has collected over ₹18 crore worldwide.