Actor Rashmika Mandanna has been named the ‘Coorg Person of the Year 2022’ by a news portal based out of the Kodagu district.
Coorg Person of the Year 2022
Actress Rashmika Mandanna achieved remarkable success with the pan-India movie Pushpa – The Rise and brought honor to the tiny hill district of Kodagu. And now according to The Hindu, the 26-year-old has been chosen as the Coorg Person of the Year 2022 in a poll conducted by www.coorgtourisminfo.com, a news portal based in the district of Kodagu.
Author P.T. Bopanna, who heads the news portal, said he chose to promote ‘role models’ by conducting an annual poll in 2005 to select a ‘Coorg Person of Year’ to ‘reignite the famed leadership qualities in the community’.
This year, the choice was Rashmika Mandanna, who achieved remarkable success with the pan-India movie Pushpa – The Rise and brought honor to the tiny hill district of Kodagu, also known as Coorg, a popular tourist destination colonized by Kodavas, which has a unique culture.
Rashmika is a role model
“When you think of role models, you usually think of the elderly who have made a lifetime’s worth of contribution. But in recent years, things have changed. There’s a lot of enthusiasm and energy among the younger generation who have made significant contributions,” Bopanna explains.
“Rashmika, who has become a household name through her acting and dancing skills, has emerged as an unofficial brand ambassador for Kodagu culture,” adds Bopanna.
Mandanna, a native of Kodagu’s Virajapete, did her schooling at Coorg Public School, Gonikoppal, in Kodagu, before earning a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Journalism, and English Literature at M.S. Ramaiah College of Arts, Science and Commerce in Bengaluru.
“For a person coming from a small community to grow and establish herself in a male-dominated industry through sheer willpower and talent is noteworthy,” shares Bopanna, “Rashmika serves as a role model not only for the Kodavas but for all women desiring to walk a similar path.” Quoted The Indian Express.
Bopanna also thinks that people tend to judge Mandanna for her personal choices rather than for her creative ability. “There have been efforts to bring her down by intentionally portraying her in a negative light and quoting her without context. But despite the negativity, she has remained strong, which requires special mental fortitude and integrity,” he says, adding that Mandanna doesn’t need to address critics, given that her box office records already speak for herself.
