There’s always some buzz about actor Rashmika Mandanna’s personal life. The most recent talk surrounding it has been her “relationship” with actor Vijay Deverakonda. She doesn’t mind people digging into the speculated bits, but she doesn’t want her fans to blindly believe everything they read or hear, and she’s also not in the mood to confirm or deny anything. “Sometimes, I am like, ‘Arrey yaar, I am doing five films a year but you are still coming and asking me, ‘Who are you dating?’,” Mandanna tells us, then bursts into contagious laughter. “I get that we are public figures and people want to know more about us,” continues the actor, who has projects such as Mission Majnu, Goodbye and Animal in the pipeline, adding that she “understands”.

The 26-year-old shares, “It has been the case since the beginning of my career — ‘Who is she seeing?’ Or ‘Oh, okay, she is with this person!’ and things like that. You can talk about it, but when it comes to me, I’d like to tell them [fans] to not jump to conclusions, unless and until I say it in my own words.” 

Tell Mandanna, who was in Delhi for the recently concluded FDCI India Couture Week 2022, that speculations about her rumoured love affair with Deverakonda are so loud that they can even be heard on popular chat shows, and she says, “I find it adorable. I’ve seen these episodes and conversations. I am like ‘aww’. At the same time, I feel it is just a conversation. It’s like, ‘Okay, this is something that they’re having fun talking about, so go on’.”

But probe the Pushpa: The Rise (2020) actor why she has not come forward to deny or confirm it, and she says, “Well, when it comes to my personal life, until I know that there is something for sure, until I get a conclusion, I will never talk about it.” Until then, she is “okay with people having all the fun” talking about her personal life.