Rashmika Mandanna on playing Betaal: Different kind of high altogether

Mumbai, Oct 28 (IANS) Actress Rashmika Mandanna has talked about her experience of stepping into a completely unfamiliar space for her latest role as Tadaka in ‘Thamma”, saying that playing a vampire was both challenging and creatively thrilling.

Rashmika told IANS “Well, for me, it was extremely foreign because I was like, OK, I don't know how to be a vampire. I don't know how to be a Betaal. Like, what is, how, how do they even sort of... And that too, the Betaal comes into the Indian household. And you have to show the difference of you being a Betaal whilst you're still in a human world.”

She tagged it as “very interesting.”

The actress added: “And for me, as an artist, I've realized that playing a normal character is one sort of high.”

The actress shared that the process of transformation fascinated her as an artist.

“But when you play a character like this, which is so different from, like, it's a different creature altogether, that gives me a different kind of high altogether. I just absolutely loved it,” Rashmika added.

She credited her producer Amar Kaushik and director Aditya Sarpotdarfor guiding her through the process.

“But also, I've only been able to do this because I had such a strong, you know, fully secured cushioning from Amar sir and Aditya sir, who actually foresaw all of this. Because as an artist, I have just gone with a blank white slate and I've just told them, ki boss, you know, you need to just guide me through this because I have no reference.”

“I don't know what to do, how to do, and how much to do. Whilst those gentlemen really took care of me, and here we are.”

“Thamma” also stars Nawazuddin Siddqui and Ayushmann Khurrana, and is set in a fictional world. The film also sees a crossover with Varun Dhawan’s “Bhediya”. The film is part of the larger Maddock Horror Comedy Universe, and is connected to the Stree films, Bhediya, and Munjya.

“Thamma”, a film based on vampires, follows a journalist played by Ayushmann, who gets caught up in the power struggle of vampires Rashmika and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

Up next for Rashmika is "The Girlfriend", a Telugu romantic drama, which also stars Dheekshith Shetty. The film is directed by Rahul Ravindran.

The movie is scheduled for release on November 7, 2025, in multiple languages, including Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, and Malayalam. She will also be seen in “Cocktail 2” and “Mysaa”.

--IANS

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