After a whirlwind of celebrations, receptions, and the joyful chaos of a new marriage, Rashmika Mandanna has returned to work and in doing so, she has served notice that the personal and the professional will run in parallel, not in sequence. On Monday, March 17, the actress officially resumed shooting for her upcoming Telugu film Mysaa, sharing a glimpse from the sets on her Instagram Stories. The caption “The Hunt Begins” was terse, intense, and entirely in keeping with the tone of what the film promises to be.
Rashmika and actor-politician Vijay Deverakonda tied the knot on February 26 in an intimate ceremony at Mementos by ITC Hotels – Ekaaya in Udaipur, in a three-day celebration their teams described as The Wedding of Virosh. The couple followed that with a star-studded reception in Hyderabad on March 4, attended by some of the biggest names across Indian cinema, before the couple embarked on their honeymoon. With those chapters now closed, Rashmika has stepped back into the demanding world of film production with characteristic purpose.
Mysaa is one of the most eagerly awaited films of her career for a specific reason: it represents a fundamental departure from anything Rashmika has done before. Directed by Rawindra Pulle and produced under the Unformula Films banner, the film is a high-octane emotional action thriller set in the culturally rich world of the Gond tribes a setting that is deeply rooted in the forests, traditions, and conflicts of central India. Rashmika plays a Gond woman, described by the makers as a role demanding fierce intensity and emotional depth complete shift from the bubbly, girl-next-door persona that made her famous.
A first look from Mysaa, released in December 2025, had already generated considerable buzz. Rashmika’s raw, unrecognisable appearance paired with a haunting background score by composer Jakes Bejoy signalled that this was a film that intended to push her, and her audience, into unfamiliar territory. The overwhelmingly positive reception to that glimpse only heightened anticipation for what the full film would deliver.
The set photograph Rashmika shared showed the unit filming across a vast, open landscape instantly communicating the scale and ambition of the production. While no release date has been announced, the resumption of the shoot suggests the production is now picking up momentum after the brief pause necessitated by her wedding.
The film’s arrival in Rashmika’s career comes at a moment of enormous personal and professional significance. Her marriage to Vijay Deverakonda after years of public curiosity about their relationship has made her one of Indian cinema’s most talked-about personalities. That Mysaa also happens to be one of the most creatively ambitious projects of her career adds to the sense that this is a pivotal chapter, both on and off screen. For now, as the caption says, the hunt has begun.
-Samuthiran
