Samantha interview: ‘I had a particularly difficult relationship with my father’

Samantha Ruth Prabhu may have “begged” director duo Raj & DK to move on and cast someone else as Honey in their upcoming spy thriller show Citadel: Honey Bunny. Her myositis diagnosis had gotten the better of her in that moment, but the actor was destined to play the parallel lead in the show because of how eerily similar her life was to that of her character’s. (Also Read – Samantha Ruth Prabhu says she asked Raj-DK to find her replacement after myositis diagnosis: ‘Begged them to move on’)
“I think there are a lot of my real-life experiences in Honey. When I was narrated the role, it was almost freaky how much of my real life was in Honey. So for my performance, I was drawing a lot from my life and what my past experiences were, my childhood was. A lot of that has made it to my performance,” Samantha says in an exclusive interview.
One can see glimpses of that in a key scene in the first episode, in which Honey, a struggling actor in ‘90s Bollywood, tells her confidant and stunt instructor Bunnny (Varun Dhawan) how she wants to give up on her dream of making it big in movies because she’s just not getting her place in the sun. Samantha agrees that as an outsider navigating the Telugu film industry in 2000s, she also had similar moments of self-doubt, before she got her breakthrough with Gautham Vasudev Menon’s 2010 romantic drama Ye Maaya Chesave.
She also insists that the similarities with Honey transcend professional journeys and hit home on a personal note. When I probe her to reveal more, Samantha says, “Oh my god! Should I? Can I? Well, for starters, I had a particularly difficult relationship with my father.” She’s quick to add that like her, “Honey also finds herself in tough situations, but she’s able to bounce back from them.” Samantha, who was diagnosed with myositis and separated with ex-husband Naga Chaitanya around the same time, has made a mark for herself despite the hurdles not only in her native industry, but also at a pan-India level.
Samantha made her presence felt across India as the antagonist in season 2 of Raj & DK’s Prime Video India Original spy thriller The Family Man in 2021. Thus it was only organic that when “Bunny” Varun Dhawan proposed her name for Honey to Raj & DK, they jumped on it. Samantha repeatedly requested the directors to cast another actor as she was busy recuperating from myositis. The actor went on a health and spiritual journey of her own, signing up with Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation and even starting a health podcast, Take 20.
Samantha is now glad she returned on a Raj & DK set because it’s no less meditative and cathartic, though in polar opposite fashion. The director duo, known for their relentless action sequences and long shots, have an 11-minute ‘oner’ in Citadel: Honey Bunny as well. “It’s very rare these days that you’re doing only one thing. You’re always multitasking. You’re on your phone and talking. But when you’re doing all these action bits and oners, you are forced to just be in the moment, which is a rarity,” Samantha points out.
Citadel: Honey Bunny will premiere on Prime Video India on November 7.