Rashmika Mandanna on the increase in Deepfake videos: 'Extremely scary not only for me but...'

A viral video of actress Rashmika Mandanna had been doing the rounds on the internet that later turned out to be fake. It showed a lady, on whose face Mandanna’s face was plastered, entering a lift in a black, revealing outfit. A journalist shared the real video on X. Seeing the video,  Amitabh Bachchan too called for strict and urgent action against the perpetrators. Later, actresses like Katrina Kaif, Kajol, and Alia Bhatt became victims of the same. Speaking about the growing menace at the ‘ Animal ’ event in Hyderabad, the actress said, “I always wondered who would even care if I chose to speak up and point out that it isn’t okay. I’m glad people from across the film industries have supported me. I understand now how important it is to speak up. I want to urge women to take the help they need when it happens.” On X, when the video was leaked, she wrote- “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.”

The note added, “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.”