Rashmika has phobia of being lifted, was uncomfortable with ‘Peelings’ song

Rashmika Mandanna broke her silence about the controversial Pushpa 2 song, ‘Peelings’. The song was subjected to criticism owing to its choreography. Several social media users confessed they were not on board with the dance moves. While Rashmika admitted she was initially ‘uncomfortable’ with the moves that involved lifting her. She said her phobia of being lifted made her uncomfortable.

“Peelings was shot a couple of days before its release. We finished shooting for that song in five days." Sharing her reaction after seeing the rehearsal video, the actress said, “It came as a surprise because the second we saw the rehearsal video, I was like, ‘What in the world is going on?’ The majority of the time I thought I was dancing on Allu Arjun sir," Rashmika told Galatta Plus.

She added that it wasn’t easy to convince herself to do the song but she decided to take it up as a challenge and give it a shot. “I am someone who has a phobia of being lifted, I wasn’t very comfortable with people lifting me, and here is the song where I am only being lifted. I had this thing of ‘how am I going to do this?’ I recently realised that if I make up my mind, I fully go and surrender to my director and co-actor. I was like, ‘Let’s just do it. If this is what the film needs, let’s do it.’ Once you trust the man, it becomes fun," Rashmika shared.

The Pushpa star was asked if she was skeptical about the song and the choreography. The actress said that she did not give herself room to doubt because it would be ‘impossible’ to be an actor if she doubted herself.

“As an actor, I know I am here to entertain others and please my director. I work to hear the word ‘excellent’ from my director. This is my bread and butter and this is what I am here to do. Suppose I will start isolating my roles and start overthinking it. That will be typecasting myself and I don’t want to do that. I like to challenge myself and I choose diverse roles and films, be it Animal, Chhava, or Sikandar. I can run around trees and do four-five songs like that and then I can do Srivalli in Pushpa. People can dislike it, but not everything is everybody’s cup of tea. And that’s my take on it," she said.

Pushpa 2 has had a bittersweet release. While the film has been unstoppable at the box office, crossing the Rs 1500 Cr mark, Allu Arjun is facing legal trouble after a woman died during the premiere of the film.