Rashmika gets support from celebrities related to deepfake video

Mumbai: Actors Mrunal Thakur and Naga Chaitanya and singer Chinmayi Sripada voiced their support for Rashmika Mandanna after the ‘Pushpa: The Rise’ star’s deepfake video went viral on social media over the weekend.

Mandanna’s ‘Goodbye’ co-star Amitabh Bachchan was the first to react after a fact-checker posted the deepfake clip along with the original video of British-Indian social media personality Zara Patel and emphasised the need for a legal and regulatory framework to deal with deepfakes in India.

Thakur praised Mandanna for speaking up and urged people to not be silent spectators as morphed videos of female actors float around on the internet zooming inappropriately on body parts.

“Thank you, Rashmika Mandanna, for speaking up and addressing this issue that, so far, we have seen glimpses of, but a lot of us chose to remain silent. Where are we headed as a community and 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’s not the time,” Thakur wrote on her ‘Instagram Story’.

Recently, Mandanna wrote a lengthy note on the microblogging site ‘X’, saying she was ‘really hurt’ to see the video, which shows a woman, dressed in a black workout onesie, stepping inside an elevator. Patel’s face was morphed using artificial intelligence (AI) to resemble the actor.

Patel, on whose body Mandanna’s face was morphed, also condemned the deepfake video and said she had ‘no involvement’ with the clip.

“Hi all. It has come to my attention that someone created a deepfake video using my body and a popular Bollywood actress’s face. I had no involvement with the deepfake video and I’m deeply disturbed and upset by what is happening.”