A recent video of Tollywood actress Rashmika Mandanna went viral on social media. In the video, a woman can be seen entering an elevator in a fitted short black plunging neckline dress. Later as fact-checked by a journalist the video was proved to be a deepfake video of Rashmika. When the original video surfaced which was uploaded by a British-Indian origin influencer, Zara Patel.
The AI-generated deepfake video led to outrage online and even Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Mrunal Thakur, IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Tollywood stars Naga Chaitanya, Sai Dharam Tej, and many other people reacted to it.
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The ‘Pushpa’ actress finally opened up after becoming a victim of cybercrime on Monday
Taking to X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, Rashmika Mandanna revealed that the entire experience had been really “scary” for her, both as an actress and a woman. She wrote,
“I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online.”
She further added,
“Something like this is honestly, extremely scary, not only for me, but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is misused. Today, as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends and well-wishers, who are my protection and support system. But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can’t imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft”
I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online.
Something like this is honestly, extremely scary not only for me, but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused.…
— Rashmika Mandanna (@iamRashmika) November 6, 2023
Here is the deepfake video:
🚨 There is an urgent need for a legal and regulatory framework to deal with deepfake in India.
You might have seen this viral video of actress Rashmika Mandanna on Instagram. But wait, this is a deepfake video of Zara Patel.
This thread contains the actual video. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/SidP1Xa4sT
— Abhishek (@AbhishekSay) November 5, 2023
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Rashmika’s Goodbye co-actor Amitabh Bachchan demanded legal action against such incidents. He took to X and wrote,
“Yes this is a strong case for legal.”
For this, the actress also thanked Big B for standing by her in her hour of need. She retweeted his post and wrote,
“Thankyou for standing up for me sir, I feel safe in a country with leaders like you.”
Thankyou for standing up for me sir, I feel safe in a country with leaders like you. https://t.co/rD9umXhKEn
— Rashmika Mandanna (@iamRashmika) November 6, 2023
Actress Mrunal Thakur has praised Rashmika Mandanna for speaking out against the edited video
Sita Ramam star not only lauded Rashmika for speaking out but also encouraged others to speak against such situations. She took to Instagram and wrote,
“Shame on people who resort to such things, it shows that there’s no conscience left at all in such people. Thank you rashmika_mandanna for speaking up, and for addressing this issue that so far we have seen glimpses of but a lot of us chose to remain silent”
She further added,
“Every day there are morphed, edited videos of female actors floating around on the internet zooming into inappropriate body parts. Where are we heading as a community, and as a society?”
“We may be actresses in the ‘limelight’ but at the end of the day, each one of us is human. Why aren’t we talking about it? Don’t remain silent, now is not the time”
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More celebrities came out to support the Animal actress for her plight
The emotional tweet of Rashmika went viral, and many celebs from the South film industry offered their support to her.
Naga Chaitanya
Telugu star Chaitanya Akkineni aka Naga Chaitanya retweeted the post and regretted the unchecked misuse of AI technology. The Ye Maya Chesave actor wrote,
It’s truly disheartening to see how technology is being misused and the thought of what this can progress to in the future is even scarier.
Action has to be taken and some kind of law has to be enforced to protect people who have and will be a victim to this .Strength to you. https://t.co/IKIiEJtkSx— chaitanya akkineni (@chay_akkineni) November 6, 2023
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Sai Dharam Tej
Telugu star Sai Dharam Tej also called out the trend of deepfake “disturbing and disgusting” and offered his support. He also requested the government to enforce stringent laws against the misuse of AI. He wrote,
Disheartening & Disgusting.
It feels so painful understanding what one must be going through being a victim of such ill use of progressing technology.
The thought of what mental havoc this technology mislead could cause in lives of normal girls is beyond terrifying.
The need of… https://t.co/xhauQxxt8C— Sai Dharam Tej (@IamSaiDharamTej) November 7, 2023
Ridhi Dogra
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Jawan actress Ridhi Dogra also wrote a post in support of Rashmika. She retweeted the tweet and wrote,
Important and urgent. https://t.co/mXeCjLYjSw
— Ridhi Dogra (@iRidhiDogra) November 6, 2023
Manjima Mohan
Actress Manjima Mohan also came out in support of Mandanna. She wrote,
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This is so scary! Immediate action should be taken! Or else this might become a bigger threat in the future! https://t.co/qAyR8DZGT7
— Manjima Mohan (@mohan_manjima) November 7, 2023
On the work front, Rashmika Mandanna will next seen in Animal alongside Ranbir Kapoor. She will also star as Srivalli in Pushpa 2: The Rule.
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