Rashmika Mandanna has been on cloud nine ever since the release of the Allu Arjun starrer pan Indian film Pushpa: The Rise. The actress who predominantly works in Kannada and Telugu films and best known for her performances in movies such as Geetha Govindam, Devadas, Yajamana, and Dear Comrade, has now joined Ranbir Kapoor for the film Animal as its female lead as per the announcement made by its makers on Saturday in celebration of the auspicious occasion of Ugadi & Gudi Padwa.

Actor Parineeti Chopra was the first choice cast in the film, but she had to opt-out of the movie due to scheduling conflicts. As a result, Rashmika Mandanna was roped in to fill in the void. T-series took to social media to make the official announcement of Rashmika’s casting on their official Twitter account. The announcement read -- "On the auspicious occasion of Ugadi & Gudi Padwa, we welcome @iamRashmika to the team of #Animal! Shooting begins this summer."

The crime drama is directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga of Arjun Reddy and Kabir Singh fame and backed by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar’s T-Series, Murad Khetani’s Cine1 Studios, and Pranay Reddy Vanga’s Bhadrakali Pictures. The film will start its shoot sometime this summer and also stars esteemed actors, Anil Kapoor, and Bobby Deol. The film is expected to release on 11 August 2023 as of now.

Other than that, Rashmika Mandanna is currently all set to make her big Bollywood debut with the spy thriller Mission Majnu in which she will be starring opposite Sidharth Malhotra. She will also be seen in another Hindi movie Goodbye alongside megastar Amitabh Bachchan. Ranbir Kapoor on the other hand just recently finished wrapping the shooting of his much talked about fantasy drama Brahmastra Part One: Shiva. He is also committed to taking on a role of a dacoit in Karan Malhotra's upcoming film Shamshera, alongside Vaani Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt. He will also be acting with Ajay Devgn in Luv Ranjan's untitled action thriller.