Rashmika Mandanna on Jayamma, Her Ranabaali Role

Rashmika Mandanna's role in Ranabaali, the Vijay Deverakonda period drama that opened on Oct. 16, has drawn more notice than most things in the film. In interviews this month she has talked about why she said yes and what the character, Jayamma, taught her. Critics have singled out her performance too.

The role

The Hindu's review describes Jayamma as a bride who enters the home of the title character, Ranabaali, and whose gradual taming of her brutish husband, and the love that grows between two strangers, is among the most engaging parts of the film. It says the character exercises agency within a patriarchal setting, and that Rashmika effortlessly brings the much-needed warmth to a harsh story. It says she portrays both innocence and steeliness without missing a beat.

The film is set in Rayalaseema during the Great Madras Famine of 1876 to 1878, directed by Rahul Sankrityan, and the review lists the runtime as 178 minutes.

What she has said

Filmfare's headline says Rashmika revealed what drew her to the film. Tea Time Telugu's headline quotes her as saying she said yes to Ranabaali for Rahul, the director. Summaries of those reports say she chose the film mainly for Rahul Sankrityan and the emotional depth of the role, and that Vijay Deverakonda's involvement prompted an immediate yes.

The Times of India's headline says she described Jayamma as a character who taught her about womanhood, and called Vijay Deverakonda her forever fan favourite. A summary of that piece says she described Jayamma as a woman whose strength is in protecting and standing up for her people. A lighter exchange, in Tea Time Telugu, has her joking that Jayamma would make food reels on Instagram in modern times. We did not read these articles in full and have used only the headlines and summaries.

The career context

Wikipedia lists Rashmika Mandanna as an actress who works mainly in Telugu and Hindi films, with five SIIMA Awards and a Filmfare Award South. It says she debuted in the Kannada film Kirik Party in 2016, broke through in Telugu with Geetha Govindam in 2018, and rose to wider notice with Pushpa: The Rise in 2021. It names Animal, Pushpa 2: The Rule and Chhaava among her highest-grossing films and says she won the SIIMA Award for Best Actress for Pushpa 2.

The Hindu's Oct. 16 review runs a link to an interview with Vijay Deverakonda headlined that Rashmika can switch off from work and he cannot. We have not read that interview.

The film's reception

Reviews of Ranabaali are mixed. The Hindu praises its period detail and its first half, and faults an overstuffed second half and some violence it says overpowers the emotional impact. Rashmika's performance is one of the points where reviews agree, according to the summaries we read. Box office figures for the film are early and vary between trackers.

Why it matters

Rashmika Mandanna has often been cast in large action films where, as Wikipedia notes, critics said her roles had limited prominence within largely male-centred stories. The Hindu's account of Jayamma, a character with her own arc and her own scenes of agency, is a different kind of write-up. That is a reading of one review and of a Wikipedia summary, and we do not claim a trend.

What we could not confirm

We did not read the Filmfare, Tea Time Telugu or Times of India interviews in full, so we have not quoted her directly. We could not confirm what she said about the role beyond the headlines and summaries. We have not seen the film.

Sources

*Cover photo: Madhuram Videos, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rashmika_mandanna.png*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rashmika_mandanna.png)* (CC BY 3.0).*