Mumbai, Dec 1 (IANS): Actress Rashmika Mandanna, who is awaiting the release of her upcoming Allu Arjun-starrer ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’, is celebrating the “very special” month of December with the 1st anniversary of her movie ‘Animal’.

On Sunday, the actress took to the Stories section of her Instagram, and re-shared a Reel from one of her fans showcasing her character of Geethanjali from the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer ‘Animal’.

She wrote on the video, “December has indeed been very very special to me. So grateful. Swami swami swami.Thank you Thank you Thank”.

‘Animal’, which starred Ranbir in the titular role, told the story of the relationship between a son and a father carved in blood. The multi-starrer film, which was directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga of ‘Kabir Singh’ fame, proved to be a blockbuster, and also triggered a wave of criticism over its portrayal and treatment of women. The film made a huge noise and diminished the Vicky Kaushal-starrer ‘Sam Bahadur’, a biopic based on the Indian war hero Sam Manekshaw.

Prior to that, ‘Pushpa: The Rise’, which was Rashmika’s claim to fame across India, was also released in December. The film, which released during the thick of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemie, performed exceptionally well at the box-office amidst the shut down of theatres across India.

It outperformed ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ and completely wiped out the Ranveer Singh-starrer sports biopic ‘83’ at the box-office, and continued to play in theatres for 2 months making it a huge success across the nation owing to its entertainment quotient, performances and the chartbuster soundtrack. It also revived the love for pan-India films after the movement was started by the ‘Baahubali’ franchise.

This time around, the sequel to ‘Pushpa: The Rise’, ‘Pushpa: The Rule’ is also set to release on December 5, the day on which the entertainment capital of the country will see the swearing in ceremony of its state’s Chief Minister.