Ever since a deepfake video of Pushpa star Rashmika Mandanna appeared online on Sunday, celebrities across the film industry have been raising their voice against it and also calling for legal action. The latest actor after Amitabh Bachchan, Mrunal Thakur and Ishaan Khatter to condemn the act was Rashmika's Geetha Govindam co-star Vijay Deverakonda. Sharing an article on the incident on his Instagram feed, Vijay asked for stringent punishment. He wrote, "Extremely important steps for the future. This shouldn't happen to anyone. Also, an efficient accessible cyber wing for quick crackdowns and punishment will make people more secure.”
Take a look at Vijay's post supporting Rashmika below:
Meanwhile, on Monday, talking to NDTV's Abira Dhar Rao about Rashmika Mandanna's deepfake video, Ishaan Khatter said, "I condemn it. I don't think deepfake is cool. I don't think using somebody's body or voice without their consent is ok. I don't bat for that."
Take a look at the video below:
Earlier on Tuesday, Lust Stories 2 star Mrunal Thakur reacted to the viral video. She also put out a statement which read, " "Shame on people who resort to such things, it shows that there's no conscience left at all in such people. Thank you Rashmika Mandanna for speaking up, and for addressing this issue that so far we have seen glimpses of but a lot of us chose to remain silent."
Mrunal added in her note, "Every day there are morphed, edited videos of female actors floating around on the internet zooming into inappropriate body parts. Where are we heading as a community, and as a 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 is not the time."
This is what Mrunal Thakur posted:
Reacting to her viral deepfake video, Rashmika Mandanna, on Monday, released a statement, in which she wrote that it is "extremely scary" how technology is being misused. Ms Mandanna's statement read, "I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deep fake video of me being spread online. Something like this is honestly extremely scary not only for me but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused. Today as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends and well wishers who are my protection and support system. But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can't imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity."
For all those wondering, Vijay Deverakonda has worked with Animal star Rashmika Mandanna in films such as Geetha Govindam and Dear Comrade. They were rumoured to be dating last year.