Rashmika Mandanna on Pushpa 2, north vs south, and more: Have just wrapped up my 22nd film
Actor Rashmika Mandanna feels that it's high time that people stop referring to films as ‘Hindi’ or ‘south’- it's just Indian film industry for her.
She has wrapped up her 22nd film, even as she shoots for another one. Rashmika Mandanna is in the busiest phase of her career clearly, riding high on the success of her last release, Animal, in December 2023.
“I have just wrapped up my 22nd film, and it has taken me 22 films to actually be here today. So it’s been quite hard work and quite a journey, but today I’ve given people comfort to write stories for me, trust me with big films and good stories. I think it’s the journey that I’ve had, and I feel absolutely blessed. I feel extremely confident and some sort of relief,” says the 27-year-old.
Pushpa 2, her immediate next slated for an Independence Day release, is also chugging along in terms of the shoot, when we ask the actor. “It’s been going great. We are almost 50 plus days into the film, and there’s a lot more to do, but as I always keep promising my audience that it’s going to be bigger than ever before. There’s a lot of hard work put in and a lot of focus on the detailing taken care of. There’s a lot of focus on each character that’s being taken care of, and that’s amazing!,” she gushes.
As we are talking about her career and films, what stands out is that Mandanna has managed to carve out a career in both Hindi and south films. What the actor wants to emphasise on is the pan Indian factor, doing away with even segregating the fact that she did films in two different industries.
“I think it’s about time that we start calling out the industry as the Indian film industry because we are all in the entertainment industry, and we are all one country. And it’s high time that we start acknowledging that all the industries in our country are the same. We are all here to do some mad, cool films and tell some really cool stories. I love the fact that the barriers are going down, and people are working together in different industries and different languages despite where they belong. I’m really happy that I’m part of the change as well,” she ends.