Rashmika Mandanna thanks Amitabh Bachchan for his support amid deepfake video controversy

Actress Rashmika Mandanna has thanked Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan for 'standing up' for her amid the deepfake video of the actress that is doing the rounds onthe internet.

Rashmika's note of gratitude came hours after her statement where she expressed her concern over the video.

On Monday evening, Rashmika took to X (formerly Twitter) to thank Big B who had earlier demanded legal action against those who had made the deepfake. She reposted his tweet with the demand for ‘legal action' and wrote, “Thank you for standing up for me sir, I feel safe in a country with leaders like you.”

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Reacting to her viral deepfake video, Rashmika said it is "extremely scary" how technology is being misused, while her Goodbye co-star Amitabh Bachchan called for legal action. Even Telugu actor Naga Chaitanya has demanded that action needs to be taken against the video.

Amitabh was the first to react after a fact checker posted the deepfake clip along with the original video that features British-Indian social media personality Zara Patel. Big B wrote on X that there was an urgent need for a legal and regulatory framework to deal with deepfakes in India. Reacting to the post, Bachchan had said, "Yes this is a strong case for legal".

Rashmika reacted to the deepfake and wroteit was scary how such videos go viral. Rashmika said she was "really hurt" to see the video, which shows a woman dressed in black workout onesie inside an elevator. Her face has been edited using artificial intelligence (AI) to resemble Rashmika.

Other celebrities support Rashmika

On Monday, Naga Chaitanya reacted to Rashmika's tweet, "It’s truly disheartening to see how technology is being misused and the thought of what this can progress to in the future is even scarier. Action has to be taken and some kind of law has to be enforced to protect people who have and will be a victim to this. Strength to you." Rashmika thanked him for supporting her.

Meanwhile, Mrunal Thakur took to Instagram to show her support and wrote, "Shame on people who resort to such things, it shows that there is no conscience left at all in such people. Thank you @rashmika_mandanna for speaking up, for addressing this issue that so far we have seen glimpses of but a lot of us chose to remain silent. Every day there are morphed, edited videos of female actors floating around on internet zooming into inappropriate body parts. Where are we heading as a community, as a society? We may be actresses in the "limelight" but at the end of the day each one of us are human. Why aren't we talking about it? Don't remain silent, now is not the time".

Singer Chinmayi Sripaada penned a note on X to spread awareness about the issue. She wrote on X, “Several months ago, a video of one of our most favourite actors in an AI avatar performed to Kaavaalaa from Jailer released - only it wasn’t her. It was a Deep Fake. Nobody knows for sure whether Ms Simran had consented in advance to her likeness to be used in the Deep Fake AI rendering of Kaavaalaa. She shared it on her social media pages as well.”

She continued, "Now a deepfake Rashmika video surfaces and I just saw her Instagram story where she genuinely looks disturbed - In a country where women’s bodies are exploited everyday, Deep Fake is going to be the next weapon they use to target and harass and blackmail girls to extort, blackmail and rape; Their clueless families in one small village or town is not going to understand when the so called maanam / or honour is at stake. Loan apps harass women borrowers with photoshopped images of their faces over porn photos and they can't deal with that. But a Deep Fake is going to be tougher for the usual untrained eye to spot. Everyone doesn’t have high-res displays. I truly hope there is a nationwide awareness campaign that can kickstart urgently to educate the general public about the dangers of deepfakes for girls and to report incidents instead of taking matters into their own hands."

Rashmika will be next seen in Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Animal, also starring Ranbir Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor, and Tripti Dimri.The film is slated to release in cinemas on December 1. She'll also be seen in Sukumar's action film Pushpa 2: The Rule opposite Allu Arjun. It is slated to release in cinemas on August 15, 2024.Rashmika played Amitabh Bachchan's daughter in her Bollywood debut, Vikas Bahl's Goodbye last year.