‘Future Of Women & Girls…’: Zara Patel Whose Video Was Used In Rashmika Mandanna’s DeepFake BREAKS Her Silence

A disturbing incident that sparked widespread shock as well as concern, a deepfake video featuring actress Rashmika Mandanna went viral on social media on Monday. The video prompted an emotional response from the actress, who expressed her fear and distress.

As netizens called for legal action against the video's creator, the woman whose video was used to create the deepfake, Zara Patel, has finally spoken out. She expressed her concern for the future of women and girls and also urged people to not believe everything they see on social media.

Taking to Instagram, Zara Patel shared her thoughts on the distressing situation, and also cleared her stance. She wrote, "Hi all, it has come to my attention that someone created a deepfake video using my body and a popular Bollywood actress's face. I had no involvement with the deepfake video, and I'm deeply disturbed and upset by what is happening. I worry about the future of women and girls who now have to fear even more about putting themselves on social media. Please take a step back and fact-check what you see on the internet. Not everything on the internet is real. I'm deeply upset by what is happening."

Earlier, Rashmika Mandanna had also shared her sentiments on the situation. She expressed her deep hurt and concern. She took to social media, and stated, "I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online. Something like this is honestly, extremely scary not only for me but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused."

"Today, as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends, and well-wishers who are my protection and support system. But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can't imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft," she added.