I want variety in emotions and personalities: Rashmika Mandanna

Actor Rashmika Mandanna says she was looking for characters that would take her into uncharted territories as a performer and found one such role in Tadaka, a vampire-like figure that she plays in “Thamma”.

Mandanna, the star of blockbusters such as “Geetha Govindam”, “Dear Comrade”, “Pushpa”, “Sita Ramam” and “Animal”, features opposite Ayushmann Khurrana in the movie, which is the fifth entry in the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe (MHCU).

It was released in theatres across the country on Diwali and has so far earned over Rs 100 crore at the domestic box office.

“I wanted to do characters which are not just variety in emotions and performances but variety in personalities as well. When they came to me for Tadaka, it was just so strange and so different that I dived right into it. It is once in a lifetime that you get to play a creature which is not human in the most beautiful way,” Mandanna told PTI in an interview.

“Thamma” follows Alok Goyal (Ayushmann), a journalist whose life takes an unexpected turn after a mysterious encounter with Tadaka (Rashmika), an otherworldly woman who saves him during a trek in the mountains.

His world unravels when he transforms into a vampire-like being — a Betaal — and is forced to confront Yakshasan (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), an ancient Betaal bound in chains for over a century who now seeks absolute freedom and dominion over the world.

It was a totally new character and there was no reference point as well, said Mandanna, adding that she had to rely solely on director Aditya Sarpotdar’s vision to play the role.

“I remember telling him, ‘Sir, I’m a white slate, you tell me what to do, you tell me how to do this and you tell me how much of the emotions I need to do’. I’m basically a director’s child, anything the director wants, I give… That’s how I’ve always approached films, that’s how I’ve always been able to give the performances that I have.”

At the same time, the 29-year-old said she had to be aware that Tadaka was an animal and doesn’t know how human beings operate.

“How they cry, laugh, feel, that’s all very foreign to her. And for me, I just kept observing… she’s also copying Alok because she’s lived for so long in the jungle that she’s forgotten all these things. So, these are the small details that I personally worked on but overall it is full credit to the team.”

Mandanna said she chooses her scripts with the mindset of an audience member, which is why she also pays attention to what viewers say about her films and performances.

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“I read the reviews. I’d be lying if I say I don’t, but at the same time, I’m someone who thinks like an audience. I’ve always picked my script as an audience… Whenever I hear a script, I just know whether I want to do the film or not. And there are many films that I have let go of, which I have never regretted about because I just knew that what is to be mine will be mine. So I’ve always picked my films like that.

“I feel like my choices are such that I want to do different characters. I don’t want to be stereotyped, like ‘she does only commercial films or she does only niche films or she does only performance oriented’. I will do them all. I want to do them all.

And that’s a conscious decision.”

The year 2025 so far has turned out to be successful for Mandanna, who first featured in historical action drama “Chhaava” with Vicky Kaushal, followed by Salman Khan’s “Sikandar”, Dhanush-led “Kuberaa” and now “Thamma”.

Her next two projects place the spotlight solely on her characters — “The Girlfriend”, a complex love story about the emotional turbulence of a toxic relationship faced by a girl, and action thriller “Mysaa” by filmmaker Rawindra Pulle.

The actor said she doesn’t consciously avoid movies where the focus might traditionally be on a male lead.

“I wouldn’t say that these two films are me taking a break from hero-driven films. What I would say is that these films came to me and they were from a girl’s perspective. For me, I don’t see it as anything different. I don’t see it as a female-led film because these films are not possible without those male directors that I’ve had. So it’s always a team effort. It is not a one person’s show ever.”

She said “The Girlfriend”, which comes out in theatres on November 7, is a “niche” and “thought provoking” film, while “Mysaa” is in the popular cinema mould.

“It’s (‘The Girlfriend’) not a commercial film. It’s a different kind of film… I thought it was an important story to be told,” she said.

“‘Myssa’ is a full blown commercial film. If I didn’t have Ravi sir directing the film, I probably wouldn’t have done it. It always depends on who you work with, script, how big the film is, the placement, everything matters. And if it makes sense to me, I will be a part of it.”