Aishwarya Rajesh clarifies her comment on Rashmika Mandanna as Srivalli: ‘My statement was misconstrued’

Actor Aishwarya Rajesh, who was recently seen in Tamil coming-of-age thriller Farhana, recently spoke about Rashmika Mandanna’s character of Srivalli from Pushpa: The Rise (2021). She has clarified that she never meant she would be better than Rashmika in the character and only shared that such a character would suit her. (Also read: Aishwarya Rajesh says she’d have played Srivalli better than Rashmika Mandanna in Pushpa)

In a note, she said her statement was misconstrued and that she has nothing but profound admiration for Rashmika’s work. Aishwarya’s publicist took to Twitter to share the statement.

In the statement, she starts by thanking audiences for their continued support for her work over the years. She then wrote, “Talking about work, I was asked in a recent interview on the kind of roles I want to do in Telugu cinema. I replied that I like the Telugu film industry a lot and that I would certainly do Telugu films if I got roles that were to my liking. To cite an example, I said I liked the character of Srivalli in Pushpa a lot as I felt such characters would suit me.”

She added, “However, unfortunately, my statement seems to have been misconstrued and is being reported in such a fashion so as to give the impression that I was disparaging the fantastic work of actress Rashmika Mandanna in the film.”

Finally, she said: “I wish to clear the confusion that seems to have ensued and clarify very clearly that I have nothing but profound admiration for Rashmika’s work in the film and that I have immense respect for all my fellow actors and actresses.”

Aishwarya rose to fame after she worked in the award-winning Tamil film Kaaka Muttai (2015). Since then, she has worked in several Tamil movies such as Boomika, Driver Jamuna, The Great Indian Kitchen, Soppana Sundari and Run Baby Run among others. She also worked in the Hindi film, Daddy (2017), co-starring Arjun Rampal.

In Farhana, she plays the central character and the story follows her character who is forced to take up a job in a call centre after her family struggles to make ends meet. The film also stars Jithan Ramesh, Aishwarya Dutta and Selvaraghavan in key roles.

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