Rashmika Mandanna (; born 5 April 1996) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Telugu and Kannada films in addition to Tamil and Hindi films. She is a recipient of four SIIMA Awards and a Filmfare Award South. Her most commercially successful films include Kirik Party (2016), Anjani Putra (2017), Yajamana (2019), Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020), Bheeshma (2020), Pogaru (2021), Pushpa: The Rise (2021), Sita Ramam (2022) and Varisu (2023). She won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – South for her performance in the Telugu romantic comedy Geetha Govindam (2018).

Early life and education

Rashmika Mandanna was born on 5 April 1996 in a Kodava family to Suman and Madan Mandanna in Virajpet, a town in Kodagu district of Karnataka. She completed her early schooling from Coorg Public School in Kodagu. She studied for a bachelor's degree in Psychology, Journalism and English Literature at the M. S. Ramaiah College of Arts, Science and Commerce in Bangalore.

Career

In 2016, Rashmika made her acting debut in ''Kirik Party'', which went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of the year in Kannada. She won SIIMA Award for the Best Debut Actress for the role. In 2020, Rashmika starred opposite Mahesh Babu in Telugu film ''Sarileru Neekevvaru'', which became one of the highest-grossing Telugu films. In the same year she appeared in the film ''Bheeshma''. In 2021, her first release was with the film ''Pogaru''. Later in ''Sulthan'' alongside Karthi and in ''Pushpa: The Rise'' starring Allu Arjun. In 2022, Rashmika starred in ''Aadavallu Meeku Johaarlu''. She then appeared in ''Sita Ramam'' and ''Goodbye''.In 2023, she starred in her second Tamil film ''Varisu'' opposite Vijay which was one of the highest grossing Tamil films.Rashmika was at 24th position of 'Bangalore Times 25 Most Desirable Women of 2016' and the winner of the 'Bangalore Times 30 Most Desirable women of 2017'. In October 2021, she peaked Forbes India's most influential actors on social media.Rashmika has signed a Hindi film ''Animal'' opposite Ranbir Kapoor.

Personal life

Rashmika began dating her co-star Rakshit Shetty during making of ''Kirik Party,'' and the couple got engaged on 3 July 2017 in a private party at her hometown of Virajpet. The couple mutually broke off their engagement in September 2018, citing compatibility issues.

Debut and fame in Telugu cinema (2018)

She made her Telugu cinema debut opposite Naga Shaurya with the film titled Chalo, which ran for 100-days in some theatres, critics have been heaped praise on Mandanna for her performance. The Firstpost's Hemanth Kumar wrote that "Rashmika makes a terrific debut and she’s a joy to watch on screen". While writer of The Hindu's Srivathsan Nadadhur stated that she makes a "Confident debut".Her next film was Geetha Govindam opposite Vijay Deverakonda, which opened to positive reviews and went on to collect over ₹130 crore against production budget ₹5 crore and ran for 100-days in couple of theatres. and brought her much recognition, making her very popular in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, alongside she received immense critical appraisal from both critics and audience, Hindustan Times's Priyanka Sundar noted that "Rashmika have taken this solid plot a notch higher with their delightful performances. Rashmika especially will have you rooting for her throughout the film".Her next release was multi-starrer big budget film titled Devadas, she shared a space with Nagarjuna and Nani as one of the main lead in the film along Akanksha Singh. It marked her hat-trick hit film in her career in Telugu film industry according to few regional reliable sources.She had less screen space, though received critical appraisal for her performance. The Times of India's writer states that "Rashmika deserved better character arc, even though she plays a people of prominence."

Continued success and accolades (2019–20)

Rashmika started 2019 acting in Yajamana, Kannada language film opposite Darshan, which received decent reviews from both the audience and critics upon release. And began earning a profit within five-days of its release. Later it collected over ₹50 crore against production budget ₹18 crore and ran for over 100-days in some theatres in Karnataka.She has been received critical acclaim for her performance as Kaveri, The Times of India's editor claimed that "Rashmika is cute and her pairing with Darshan works well". In 2019, her next film was Dear Comrade opposite Vijay Deverakonda, which opened to mixed reviews from both critics and audience. It went on to become a financial failure and touted as first flop at box office in Rashmika's film career. Even though she received critical acclaim for her performance in the film as 'Lilly'.In 2020, Rashmika starred opposite Mahesh Babu in Telugu film Sarileru Neekevvaru, which opened to decent reviews from audience and critics upon the release and went on to become one of the highest-grossing Telugu films, and emerged as Rashmika's career highest profit earner to date by collecting ₹2 billion in just 10-days.[excessive citations] It went on to collect over ₹2.6 billion in 50-days theatrical run at worldwide box office.[excessive citations] Her next Telugu film in 2020 was Bheeshma opposite Nithiin, which opened to positive response from both the critics and the audience. The film went on to become a financial hit at worldwide box office by collecting over ₹40 crore in just a week of its release.She received praise for her performance as Chaitra. The Firstpost's editor Hemanth Kumar praised her chemistry with Nithiin.

Debut in other cinemas (2021–present)

In 2021, Rashmika starred in the Kannada language film Pogaru opposite Dhruva Sarja, which went to become a hit at box office by collecting over ₹50 crore. Rashmika also made her Tamil debut with Sulthan opposite Karthi, which was directed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan, the film opened to decent reviews and performed fairly well at the box office. Her upcoming filmography includes two Telugu films: Sukumar’s Pushpa opposite Allu Arjun and Kishore Tirumala’s Aadavaallu Meeku Johaarlu alongside Sharwanand. The same year, Rashmika also began shooting for her upcoming Hindi films. Starting with her debut, titled Mission Majnu, directed by Shantanu Bagchi and starring opposite Sidharth Malhotra. She will also be seen in Goodbye, directed by Vikas Bahl, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan.