Rashmika Mandanna and Vijay Deverakonda are the latest celebrity couple to grace Karan Johar’s couch on Koffee With Karan 9. In the second episode of the season, the newly married couple opened up about their proposal, marriage, relationship dynamics, career and more.
During the conversation, Karan Johar asked Rashmika about the debate that surrounded Janhvi Kapoor in and the concerns over the hypersexualisation of her character. Addressing the issue, the filmmaker and host said, “I haven’t seen that happen with you, Rashmika, at all, in your representation. So are you careful about that, whether it’s Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, or any language?”
Rashmika Mandanna on not being comfortable with skin show
Rashmika answered that she has set the boundaries, explaining, “because there are some things which I’m not okay with. See, I know some characters sort of need, like, something like a bikini or something like that, but even in that, I’ll say that I’m not very comfortable with my whole, you know, like exposing skin show; I’m not that kind of person.”
“But again, when you do, like, commercial films, there’ll be these costumes that you’re not completely comfortable with. But at the same time, there are lines that I draw for myself. And more so, often the directors are okay with it, because those are the kind of people who I prefer working with,” she added.
Rashmika Mandanna on setting boundaries
Vijay added in the conversation and said, “But then it’s still challenging, no, to have these conversations?” Rashmika agreed with Karan’s statement when he said, “And for someone like Janhvi, who’s not from the industry, I think it was… she did feel a sense of vulnerability.”
She continued, “But also you need to make it, like, easier for the actors to sort of come and ask these questions, because even I find it hard.”
“Sometimes I’m like, no, I don’t want to do this, but it takes a lot of, you know, conversations with producers… okay, I really want to say this, you think I can? And he’s like, yeah, of course, you should,” she added.
Vijay further elaborated, “They all need a support system to tell them that it’s okay to put your foot down and say a thing, say no, because I think you can feel, like people can make you feel like, ‘But you’re an actress, but you signed this film, isn’t this your job, we’re not asking too much.” So you start feeling that pressure of “Am I not doing my job? Am I not being a professional?”
About Janhvi Kapoor Peddi controversy
Ram Charan starrer Peddi sparked backlash on social media when it was released in theatres. In certain scenes, viewers claimed that Janhvi was by Ram Charan’s character, who also makes strongly derogatory remarks about her physical attractiveness.