Actor Rashmika Mandanna has often spoken about the turning points in her journey, but one memory continues to stay close to her heart, which she has shared in her recent interview. It is her time working with Puneeth Rajkumar, a phase she now sees as deeply important to her growth, both as a person and as an actor. Long before she became a familiar face across industries, Rashmika was still finding her place and dealing with the uncertainty that comes with being new. She has admitted that in those early days, she sometimes felt her opportunities came more from luck than from her own ability.
That slowly began to change during the making of Anjani Puthra. On set, Puneeth was not just a star but someone who paid attention and encouraged people around him. Rashmika remembers how he noticed something in her that she had not yet seen in herself. In simple conversations, he told her to trust her talent, take her work seriously, and not hold herself back. There was nothing dramatic about those moments, but they stayed with her.
At a time when she was still unsure, that quiet belief meant a lot. It pushed her to think differently about her own potential. She began to move away from doubt and started to look at what she could achieve if she gave herself a chance. That shift in thinking soon reflected in her decisions. Rashmika began exploring opportunities beyond Kannada cinema, stepping into Telugu films and gradually building a presence across industries.
Today, as she continues to work in multiple languages and reach wider audiences, Rashmika often looks back at that phase with gratitude. She does not remember Puneeth only as a co-actor or a respected figure, but as someone who helped her understand her own strength. His words gave her the confidence to aim higher and take risks that helped her take charage of her career.