Actress Rashmika Mandanna recently found herself at the center of a cybercrime incident when an AI-generated deepfake video featuring her began circulating on social media. The video quickly gained viral attention, prompting Rashmika to speak out about the distressing situation.
Taking to her media platform X, the "Animal" actress shared her thoughts, saying, "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."
She 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."
The deepfake video in question features a woman entering an elevator, with Rashmika's face digitally added to the clip. While some social media users were misled into believing the woman was Rashmika, others correctly identified it as an AI-generated manipulated video and not the actress.
It may be noted that earlier deepfake videos of celebrities like Tom Cruise, Anne Hathaway, Mohanlal, Mammootty, Fahadh Faasil and others also surfaced on social media and created headlines.
After Rashmika's deepfake video surfaced on social media, Amitabh Bachchan was quick to notice it and demanded legal action against the same. Internet users pointed out that the female in the original video was Zara Patel, a British Indian who has a massive following on social media. Rashmika's 'Goodbye' co-star shared his opinion on X and wrote, "Yes this is a strong case for legal”
On the work front, Rashmika will next be seen in 'Animal' with Ranbir Kapoor. Helmed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, it also stars Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol in the lead roles and is all set to hit the theatres on December 1.