Samantha Ruth Prabhu says doing action in Citadel is ‘exhilarating’: ‘Great not to have hero saving woman all the time’

“I don’t think my life has changed at all. I’m only a star till 6 pm. That’s it. After that, my life is extremely normal. Nothing has changed in my head at least. I never ever dreamt that I’d come this far. I feel very privileged about the kind of roles I’m doing right now. I’m shooting Citadel now and every day is exhilarating work. It’s so fulfilling, I’m so happy. It’s tough but so fulfilling for a woman to be doing action, to not have the hero saving her all the time. It’s great, it’s a new phase for me. I’m absolutely enjoying it,” she said.

Helmed by filmmaker duo Raj and DK, the Indian version of Citadel is a spin-off of the original American series of the same name, which has Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra in the lead roles. Shaakuntalam, meanwhile, revolves around the love story of Shakuntala and King Dushyant from Mahabharata, portrayed by Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Dev Mohan. The film is based on the Sanskrit play Abhijnana Shakuntalam by Kalidasa.

At the event, Samantha said she was initially not confident to play the titular part. Having grown up on a staple diet of Disney films, Samantha couldn’t see herself as a princess– someone who is “a symbol of perfection”.

“I was scared and had said no because I was doing stuff like The Family Man, playing these gritty roles. But ever since I was a child, Disney has been my favorite genre. But I didn’t have the confidence that I can play Shakuntala, a princess, a symbol of perfection. So I got scared. But if you notice the last three years, I have been taking on a lot of challenges. I spoke to Dil Raju sir and he had a lot of confidence in the script.

“I thought let me take this up as a challenge, because this is my only chance to play the role that I dreamt of as a child. I always thought this is a simple story but it actually isn’t. There’s love, betrayal, emotions. As a modern woman I could still connect to a character written such a long time ago. There’s something for everyone in the film. People will be surprised and happy,” she added.

Shaakuntalam marks the acting debut of Telugu star Allu Arjun’s daughter Allu Arha, who will play the role of Prince Bharat in the film. The Gunasekhar directorial is set for a theatrical release on April 14.