Rukmini Vasanth, who is awaiting the release of ‘Kantara: Chapter 1’, spoke at the India Today Conclave South 2025 about losing her father, Colonel Vasanth Venugopal, in action. He was killed in 2007 while preventing infiltrators from crossing the India-Pakistan border at Uri, Jammu and Kashmir. Colonel Vasanth Venugopal is Karnataka’s first recipient of the Ashoka Chakra, India’s highest peacetime military decoration.
Speaking at the event, held in Coimbatore on September 8, Rukmini Vasanth said, “It left a lasting impact on me because I was a child when we lost our father. At that point, to see my mother, whose life has been completely rocked and changed, take her raw pain and find a way to channel that to other people, to find a way to spread the immense privilege that reached our family, to find a way to disperse to people who don’t have access was moving to me. It instilled a strong sense of philanthropy, of taking your pain and making it productive.”
Rukmini Vasanth’s mother is closely association with a foundation called Veer Ratna that focusses on helping war widows.
“It’s a great deal to isolate yourself from your particular pain and reach other people who may be suffering in the same way. It builds a sense of community. One of the most wonderful things that our Veer Ratna foundation does is that they organise three-day workshops for wives and children of martyrs. And those workshops become a sense of community and togetherness,” she added.
Rukmini also highlighted how people build a sense of community by attending these workshops: “My sister and I have attended them as participants. We all have one thing in common. We have lost our fathers in action. But, it grows to be so much more than that – it forms a community. It’s a cause that I care deeply about.”
When asked if the spotlight on her as an actor makes her more responsible, she remarked, “Often times, we have to use the attention and eyes on us to channel it to something professionally, but I do feel some sort of responsibility towards the foundation and directing attention to other important causes. We need to change the spotlight around and spotlight other different issues as well.”
On the work front, Rukmini Vasanth was seen in the Tamil film, ‘Madharaasi’, starring Sivakarthikeyan and directed by AR Murugadoss. The actor will be seen next in Rishab Shetty’s ‘Kantara: Chapter 1’, Yash’s ‘Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups’ and Jr NTR’s ‘Dragon’.
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