Madhoo, Samantha Ruth Prabhu's Shaakuntaalm co-star, has reacted on the film's underwhelming performance at the box office. While talking about Shaakuntalam, Madhoo said that she is hurt because the film has failed to perform at the box office even after "the makers and producers worked very hard" on the mythological drama film that released earlier this month. Madhoo, in an interview with DNA, shared, "I feel very sad that Shaakuntalam has underperformed because the makers and producers gave it all. From the pre-production to release, unhone kahi bhi us picture ko dheela nahi chhoda (the left no stone unturned). After shooting and dubbing, they spent an entire year on CGI (computer-generated imagery). They never took the process for granted and made sure to make it a visual treat. While shooting, I saw they never gave any stress to artists or technicians. They took care of our comfort as well." While Samantha was the film's lead as she played the role of Shakuntala, Madhoo played the role of Menaka, both mythological characters from Kalidasa's popular play Abhijnana Shakuntalam. Madhoo then added that while other south Indian films like RRR and Baahubali were loved by the audience, she couldn't understand why Shaakuntalam failed even when it has a "strong South Indian flavour." She said, "Shaakuntalam has a strong South Indian flavour, with mythology. Ab Baahubali chali. RRR chal gayi. jab koi picture chal jaati hai, toh you don't know.. logic nahi hota (Baahubali and RRR worked at he box- office, one never knows the logic behind why some films work and others don't). Nobody expected that Baahubali would be such a gigantic hit. Aachi bhi bani ho toh bhi itna bada success kisi ne expect nahi kiya tha (Even if the film is good, no one had expected it to be a big hit). We never anticipated that the film would underperform at the box office. So it just hurts you because this is the film where everyone worked really hard." Shaakuntalam is Samantha's second big release, after Yashoda (2022) that failed to lure audiences to the theatres. The actor, even as she was diagnosed with myositis, an autoimmune condition, has continued shooting for her films and promoting them. The actress was recently in London for the grand premiere of Priyanka Chopra's Citadel. Samantha, along with Varun Dhawan will be seen in Citadel's Indian spin- off by Raj and DK soon.