Picking up Chittoor dialect for Pushpa was difficult, says Rashmika Mandanna

The trailer for filmmaker Sukumar’s multi-lingual Pushpa: The Rise made heads turn earlier this week. The film sees Allu Arjun play the titular character. The trailer also showed that Rashmika Mandanna will be playing his love interest, a rustic woman.

Mandanna has worked in films in different languages. But for Pushpa she had to learn the Chittoor dialect of Telugu for her character Srivalli, which proved to be a challenge.

Sharing her experience, she said in a statement, “I learnt the Chittoor slang, which is a mix of Tamil and Telugu. Picking up the dialect was difficult as you have to get the nuances of the language right. I used to train for three to four hours a day. It took me a long time to learn it, but in the end, it was worth it.”

Madanna has acted in Kannada and Telugu films. Next year, she will be seen in the Hindi films Goodbye and Mission Majnu. “As a multi-lingual actress, I have been learning a new language with almost every other film. I know six languages by now,” she said.

Pushpa also stars Malayalam movie star Fahadh Faasil in an important role. The film is based on the issue of red sandalwood smuggling. It will be released in theatres on 17 December.