Anupama Chopra sits down with Samantha Ruth Prabhu for Cover Star, weeks after Maa Inti Bangaaram turned her into a bonafide 100 crore action star. Samantha talks about building Swarna, the sari-clad saviour with a violent past that she was never originally meant to play, and how the lines between Swarna, Jhansi and herself blurred over the course of the shoot.
She explains why she had quietly made peace with never acting again and settling into producing, how Raj Nidimoru talked her out of it, and why she believes he has always had more faith in her than she has had in herself. She also breaks down the economics of the film — a deliberately restricted budget, a 54-day schedule, money borrowed from friends and family, and a single day in which the bus sequence, the climax and a set of filler scenes were all shot.
Samantha speaks about the two years she spent away from the camera while she dealt with her health, the loss of identity that came with not contributing, and the question she had to sit with — who is she when she is not producing results.
She talks about withdrawing from 15 to 20 brand endorsements on her return, why a life that looks smaller has become far bigger, and how she has learnt to drown out the noise around what an Indian heroine is expected to be.
She also discusses the monologue in the film about the perfect daughter-in-law and why it still holds true, the commitments Tralala Moving Pictures has made to female representation on screen, her pregnancy and the change she says she is ready for, and the ring Raj picked out entirely without her.