Kannada star Ramya stands by Rashmika Mandanna: ‘Stop trolling her’

She is a Kannada star who rules the roost despite not having had a film release in nearly a decade. The Sandalwood Queen, as Kannada actor Ramya is popularly known, was outspoken about her own mental health struggles being a celebrity in the age of social media. During discussion on women in cinema at the Bengaluru International Film Festival, Ramya was asked by the media about her mental health struggles that she opened up about last year. (Also read: Kannada star Ramya says Kangana Ranaut’s Emergency was a badly made film: ‘That is why the audience rejected it’)

Ramya’s take on sound mental health

The Katari Veera Surasundarangi star in fact teared up when she was asked this question and said, “You guys are going to make me cry. After I lost my father (RT Narayan) in 2013, I was completely devastated. It was a period of grief and I just couldn’t cope with the loss. I was really struggling. In recent times you see actresses like Deepika Padukone who have opened up their mental health struggles.” She went on to talk about how the practice of Vipassana had helped her in recent years to cope with stress.

Ramya also spoke about how social media trolling has impacted mental health today. “Women are soft targets. Those who troll must understand the mental turmoil women go through,” she said.

Ramya’s words of support for Rashmika

Recently, actor Rashmika Mandanna who hails from Kodau district in Karnataka, was asked during the promotion of her latest Hindi film, Chhaava, where she was from and she replied, “I’m from Hyderabad.” This did not go down well with Kannadigas given that she started her film career in the Kannada film industry and found success in Sandalwood before she moved to the Telugu film industry. Rashmika was heavily trolled online for ‘denying her roots’.

A controversy emerged when Congress MLA Ravikumar Giowda Ganiga told media that Rashmika Mandanna had refused to attend the Bengaluru International Film Festival in 2024. Rashmika’s team though denied these claims but the rift between the Kannada audience and the popular actress widened with people trolling her.

In response to the trolling of Rashmika, Ramya came out in support of the Pushpa actor and said, “People should stop this culture of trolling. I see how Rashmika is getting attacked daily and feel bad about it. She is always at the receiving end.”

Rashmika has also posted certain posts on Instagram that reflect her state of mind. She wrote on March 8, “Guysss, Try and keep positive as much as possible, Smile – we only got this one life so live it to the fullest. be a little more kinder. everyone is having a hard day in their own ways. give love to others, give love to yourselves.and Hydrate as much as possible and give love to your bodies.”