She is no longer Samantha Ruth Prabhu. She will be known henceforth as just Samantha.
Samantha married Family Man Showrunner Raj Nidmoru some days ago, but won't add Nidimoru to her name.
During her prior marriage to actor Naga Chaitanya, Samantha had briefly assumed her husband's surname and was known professionally as Samantha Akkineni.
This time Samantha wants to preserve her identity in the marriage.
In this, she is one with Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt who have retained their pre-marriage surname.
Samantha has gone a step further and done away with the surname entirely.
She is no longer Samantha Ruth Prabhu. She will be known henceforth as just Samantha.
Post marriage Samantha will be seen in Director Nandini Reddy's film, Maa Inti Bangaram.
"Sam and me have always had a great work relationship and it's great to be working again together," Nandini tells Subhash K Jha.
You and Samantha are working on your third film together after Jabardast and Oh Baby.
Sam and me have always had a great work relationship and it's great to be working again together.
Maa Inti Bangaram is a story which will be entertaining and packs a punch as well.
Are you convinced that Shero has an attentive audience out there?
Speaking for the Telugu audience, they are always eager and ready to watch films that are entertaining and have an emotional connect as well.
While stars definitely have their pull I think story is now slowly taking centre stage and that's why many small films also have done well.
So whether it's a male or a female lead I think content is the decider today.
Is it increasingly tough to make cinema on your terms at a time when mythologicals and action films rule the box office?
Themes constantly keep changing over the years and that's really not the problem.
Today people have more avenues to watch content. Reels have massively changed viewing patterns and attention spans.
But as storytellers it's our job to adapt to the changing terrain, tell relevant stories in relevant budgets.
Only if producers survive will the industry survive. So some hard choices need to be made.
Who are the filmmakers who have inspired you?
There are many that I admire. But the filmmakers who influenced me massively in my growing years was definitely Mani Ratnam sir, K Viswanath garu and, of course, the great K V Reddy garu.
Apart from them, Kundan Shah's and Hrishida (Mukherjee)'s work are some of my favourite films.
Yash Chopra represented the glamour and romance of the big screen for me.
How do you view your journey so far?
Miles to go... so much to learn so much to unlearn.
When someone comes and tells me something in my film made them happy, touched them, I feel I did something right. But lots to learn and lots to do.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
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