Rashmika Likens Vijay Deverakonda’s Ranabaali Act to Pushpa 2

Rashmika Mandanna has given Ranabaali a fresh talking point after the film arrived in theatres. At a press conference, she said Vijay Deverakonda disappeared so fully into the role that she kept looking for the actor she knows off screen.

Rashmika said the shift was complete, even during off-camera conversations, and that understanding the depth and intensity of his performance took her time. “Where is Viju?” she asked on stage.

A Pushpa 2 benchmark

Rashmika linked Vijay’s immersion to Allu Arjun’s performance as Pushpa Raj in Pushpa 2: The Rule. She said Allu Arjun and Pushpa were “two different people,” and that Vijay showed a similar separation between the person she knows at home and the man she saw on set.

“The actors who perform know the feeling,” she added.

That comparison matters because the Pushpa franchise has become a shorthand for total transformation. Rashmika’s framing places Ranabaali in the same conversation for audiences who measure a star turn by how thoroughly the star disappears.

Inside Ranabaali

The period action drama, directed by Rahul Sankrityan, is built around a very different world from the romantic hits Rashmika and Vijay have done before.

• Set during the Great Madras Famine of 1876-1878.
• Vijay plays Singanamala Bobbili Ranabaali, a warrior from the hills of Rayalaseema.
• Rashmika plays Jayamma, his wife and ally.
• Arnold Vosloo features in a key role.

The story follows Ranabaali from a prophecy-marked birth to life as a skilled horseman. When famine and colonial greed threaten his village, an officer named Sir Theodore Hector pushes him into resistance, with Jayamma’s support.

Rashmika’s verdict

Rashmika said Ranabaali and Jayamma touched her in a way that Geetha Govindam and Dear Comrade did not. Her final word on Vijay’s work was direct: “He’s a one-man show.”

Source: PINKVILLA

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#Allu Arjun#Bollywood Society#Celebrity News#Pushpa 2#Ranabaali#Rashmika Mandanna#South cinema#Vijay Deverakonda