Mrunal Thakur, Naga Chaitanya slam viral deepfake video of Rashmika Mandanna

Mumbai: Rashmika Mandanna's deepfake video has triggered angry reactions on social media, with many seeking strict regulations to combat deepfakes. Many have also voiced support for the 'Pushpa: The Rise' actor, after a morphed video of hers went viral over the weekend. Actors Mrunal Thakur, Naga Chaitanya and singer Chinmayi Sripada are the latest cinema personalities to react to the video.

“Shame on people who resort to such things, it shows that there is no conscience left at all in such people. Thankyour @rashmikamandanna for speaking up, for addressing this issue that so far we have seen glimpses of but a lot of us chose to remain silent. Everyday 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, 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,” wrote Mrunal on her Instagram stories.

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 a 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, for addressing this issue that so far we have seen glimpses of but a lot of us chose to remain silent... 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," Thakur wrote on her Instagram Story.

On Monday, 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.

"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," Mandanna further said in her post.

Deepfake is a digital method where users can replace one person's likeness convincingly with that of another using AI technology. Patel, on whose body Mandanna's face was morphed, also condemned the deepfake video and said she had 'no involvement' with the clip.