Actor Raj Arjun Recalls Hitting Rashmika Mandanna In Dear Comrade, Calls It ‘Toxic'

Raj Arjun, who mainly works in Hindi films, has also worked in a few Telugu, Tamil, and Malayalam movies as well. The actor is known for some notable performances in films like Secret Superstar, Thalaivi, and Dear Comrade. Raj Arjun plays the antagonist in the 2019 film Dear Comrade, starring Rashmika Mandanna and Vijay Deverakonda.

Dear Comrade revolves around Lilly (Rashmika), an ambitious state-level cricket player, and her love interest, student union leader Chaitanya Krishna aka Bobby, played by Vijay Deverakonda. Meanwhile, Raj Arjun, who plays Ramesh Rao, a BCCI south-zone selector, has feelings for Lilly.

The film has an important sequence where Raj Arjun has to hit Lilly (Rashmika) as a punishment for raising her voice against him. Speaking about the same sequence and his off-screen equation with Rashmika with News18, Raj Arjun said that the actress is a "lovely soul" and humble. "She is very down to earth."

He further went on to add that he felt bad about a scene in Dear Comrade where he had to hit Rashmika. "I'd sympathised with her during the shoot and I thought I'm being too toxic."

Raj Arjun also described the Dear Comrade scene which was shot in the bathroom and said, "I suggested that scene should be shot in the washroom, and it was actually to be shot in the hall where all the girls were supposed to sit and I deliver my dialogues. I suggested that it would be better if we shoot this sequence in the bathroom because it would direct towards the character's psycho nature that despite being a man he is entering the women's washroom. I also suggested that they should send two girls to the washroom and I will get angry at them and ward them off shouting, 'I'll have to teach her a lesson'. I suggested all this and the director also agreed to it."

The 50-year-old actor also spoke about his experience working with Vijay Deverakonda. "I had an encounter sequence with Vijay, but it was an amazing experience with him as well. Currently, I'm working on a project with Vijay's brother in his production house. His younger brother is the main lead in the film, and I've completed the shoot for it," he told the news portal.

Raj Arjun then added that although Dear Comrade was his first Telugu film, nobody on the film's sets made him feel that he came from a different place. He recently appeared as an antagonist as Caleb in the Disney Plus Hotstar web series Jhansi. The series features Anjali as the lead star.