“I Wanted It That Way”: Rashmika Mandanna on Embracing Diverse Roles and Taking Pride in Her South Indian Accent

Rashmika Mandanna, along with Vijay Deverakonda, recently appeared on Koffee With Karan, where the couple, fondly known as Virosh, opened up about their personal and professional journeys. During the conversation, Rashmika reflected on her choices as an actor, her desire to explore different film industries and the criticism she has faced over her accent, highlighting her pride in her roots and her determination to break barriers through her work.

Speaking about being part of contrasting films like Animal and Girlfriend, Rashmika said, “Ever since I started working in the film industry, you know, I’ve been criticised or trolled for one thing or the other, like either my performance, or the language, or the acting, or just the accent, or anything. So for me, I never wanted to sort of put a barrier for myself. I didn’t want to just work in one industry. I wanted to work in them all. I didn’t want to speak just one language. I wanted to speak all languages. And so very early on in my career, I started doing all kinds of films. So today, when I’m a part of a brilliant film like an Animal and a Girlfriend, it gives me great satisfaction as an actor. Yeah? You know, because I’m like, I’m able to play them all. So today, when you say, okay, there’s a Girlfriend and there’s an Animal, like it’s so different, but you’re a part of both of them. I’m like, I wanted it that way.”

Addressing the criticism surrounding her South Indian accent in Hindi cinema, Rashmika expressed her pride in her identity and the hard work she puts into her performances across languages. She said, “I particularly didn’t have an issue with that because they said I had a South Indian accent, but I am from the South of India. So I am going to have an accent. It’s unreasonable to think otherwise. But every film that I’m a part of, of course, I go and give this option to my directors, saying I’m not the one who’s going to feel bad if you want to dub with someone else, you know? But none of my directors actually wanted to dub with someone else. They wanted me to dub for myself. So I was like, it was a pride for me because if I’m able to dub in all these languages by myself, that’s a lot of hard work. But at the same time, if I could do it, there’s nothing like that, you know.”

Through her candid conversation on Koffee With Karan, Rashmika reiterated her commitment to embracing diverse characters, working across industries and taking pride in her linguistic and cultural identity. From exploring contrasting roles to lending her own voice to her performances in multiple languages, the actor continues to champion the freedom to grow, experiment and define her journey on her own terms.