Samantha

Host: Welcoming Samantha Ruth Prabhu in conversation with me only on Bollywood Bubble, and this is a conversation that I've wanted to have for the longest time, and thank you for doing this. Despite, I know the kind of health issues that you are braving through to do this, to be very honest. I understand it a little more than maybe others because I've been through the same.

But honestly speaking, Samantha, thank you. Thank you for doing this, Samantha Ruth Prabhu: You know, I must thank you because you kept me relevant for eight months. I remember you badgering every single guest of yours, "One word about Samantha."

Yes. "One word about." I was like, oh, my God. Poor things, they don't want to say one word about Samantha, stop badgering them.

No, Host: I think they always wanted to say something. I have to tell you there's a, I there was a selfish, reason behind doing that as well, because I didn't tell you also till, like, two weeks ago, that I was actually diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder myself. So, every attack on you felt a little more personal.

I would have come to that anyway. So when people were giving you love, I wanted you to feel love because, my doctor just told me that, you know, you should not stress. Emotional lows is something that you need to avoid, and I felt like from a distance, if I could just make you feel that you're loved by everybody around, that's what I can do for Thank you.

So I just did that. Thank Samantha Ruth Prabhu: you. I felt it. I felt it a lot.

I Host: love you. Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Thank you. But Host: Samantha, this movie is special. When I watched Yashoda, it was a very different kind of an experience.

You spearheaded a movie, and a, and a, and a very poignant one. This is an epic, and throughout this, you know, you've braved through so many personal battles. Was it difficult to just dabble between being an artist, being a human being, and to make it happen?

Yeah. Samantha Ruth Prabhu: I think, hmm, it, yeah, it has been one personal struggle after another. But I've never asked, "Why me?" Because if Mm.

Had asked God, "Why me," then I would also have to ask him, "Why me" for all of the good things that I have. Mm. For all of the love, for all of the appreciation. So it's not fair that I ask, "Why me?"

But I also believe that we learn most from our lows, our dark times. Mm. And I believe that there's something to learn through this. Your Host: Instagram bio is something that I swear by.

I Samantha Ruth Prabhu: never thought that I would be living it every single day. Yeah. Damn, I would never have put it up if it was gonna be so true.

Host: I think you manifested it, I Samantha Ruth Prabhu: manifested that damn thing. How Host: difficult was it to shoot the entire process, like, of Shakuntalam is, it's a difficult film. You have to have mudras, you have to have moves while you're battling myositis.

It's a difficult, No, Samantha Ruth Prabhu: I did not get diagnosed, Okay. During Shakuntalam. It wasn't during Shakuntalam or Yashoda as well. Okay. It was after that.

So, this, when I was, I was having personal struggles of another Yeah. During Shakuntalam. Yes. Yeah. So it wasn't.

Physically, I was fine. Host: You have been a face of a big change. Whenever I speak to, like you said, a lot of your peers, from that part of the world also, which has now become pan-India, thankfully, we have got acceptance, and thankfully you've been one of the biggest faces.

Because with Family Man too, I think there was a huge acceptance also. Most of them have always appreciated and acknowledged your bravado in spearheading that movement, in a way. I don't think you ever settled for that whole thing that I would play the typical heroine.

You kind of paved way, and a lot of women today, not just you Keerthy Suresh were there, Sai Pallavi, Rashmika Mandanna, Pooja Hegde, a lot of those people from that, side, have actually taken that. But today people are, women are not setting, settling down for anything less. Mm. Do you think.

How do you see that movement happening right now? I Samantha Ruth Prabhu: absolutely love it. Like, a little girl came up to me and said, "I canceled my dancing class and I'm going for, you know, karate training."

Oh, yeah. And I was like, "Yeah, baby, you go." so I think that, you know, things are changing. Yeah. Things are changing so drastically for women, and our voices are changing.

The need for a change in voice is so, important right now. Yeah. It's important for women to be heard. It's important for women to voice, their wants, and I think that this movement is only going to pick up speed.

Did you Host: at any point, feel that your voices were not heard, especially when it came to the profession? Samantha Ruth Prabhu: We didn't have a voice, right? We didn't have a voice.

It, But I'm glad. I'm so glad that there's so much of change, and even with all of my personal struggles, yes, there's been criticism and there's been trolling, but there's also been so much support. Yeah. Support that a few years back I don't think would have been possible.

I really don't think. I there has been a lot of support. There has been a lot of women coming to me, saying.

Acceptance. There's a, there's a lot of acceptance, not just young girls, my age. Also from a lot of older women, which is very surprising- Yeah. Because the way, their thought process and their ideologies, things that were fed into their minds when they were young, are very different, from contemporary women.

So I'm, I was truly happy and that there was such unanimous, acceptance among women. There Host: was a point of time, you know, I think I messaged you also the day I saw that tweet, when you went for the Shakuntalam, trailer launch. Mm-hmm. And there was that ridiculous, tweet that, you gave a very nice answer to.

At that point, I think I was also going through something emotional. I was breaking into hives and everything because of my autoimmune, and I was like, you know, outer beauty is everything, and I was putting on weight and everything, and people don't Yeah. What is happening, and my friends was sitting there.

They knew, and I was losing momentum because metabolism- Yeah. Takes a huge hit, and then you can't eat this even if you are going on a diet, and then also things are not working. Mm. So there's a lot of deep level of frustration, especially when you're going through an emotional low, especially.

Yeah That day I broke down seeing that comment. And I swear, I was in an auto and I broke down and I felt like, man, if this is happening to her, I don't know how she's dealing with it, because it felt like a more personal attack because I've been through that. And every time people come and say, "Why you saying this?

Why you saying that?" Because you've helped me heal. I swear. I swear.

For the last one month I've not had anything. Was it difficult at any point? Because you've always put on a brave smile on your face.

Was it ever difficult? Were you like, felt like, "Why?" Like, "What is the world wanting of me?"

Samantha Ruth Prabhu: You know, I've been through a lot of struggle, but I think this is the final, it was a final breaking of shackles. Because as an actor, you are always expected to display perfection. Perfection in your Instagram, perfection in your interviews, perfection, in your films.

And I can, I could never get over, like, just letting go and accepting myself for who I am. I've always wanted to be better and better, and look better and look better and look. And finally now, I am at a place where I have no control over this condition, the medication that I have to take.

Mm-hmm. This, the side effects of all of the medication. One day is not like. One day I'm puffy, one day I'm fat, one day I'm, sick, one day I'm.

I have no control over how I look. So this was a final shackle to be broken as an actor. As an actor, you know, your eyes are the medium to express emotions, and every day I wake up with pins and needles in my eyes.

Every day that I go through this pain. I'm sensitive to light. I can't. Which is why, you know, I don't wear glasses just for fun and for style.

The light actually affects my eyes. I have intense migraines, I have intense pain in my eyes. They swell from the pain, and this is every single day for the last eight months.

You know, this is probably the worst thing that can happen to an actor, because your eyes are the medium at which, through which you express. So, if there are any shackles of vanity that needed to be broken, Oh, it's broken all right.

You know, it's broken and you. I have reached probably the lowest of lows and I've come creeping back up. So, I think that one comment about how I look was, it was like, please.

Mm. I've been. I'm. Maybe when I look at even my best, I didn't feel as strong and beautiful as I feel now because, just because of life experience. Because you know that others might see the outside, but what I see is someone who fought every single day for eight months, and that's not easy.

Absolutely. Yeah. And that's, that's beauty there. So, say what you want about how I look on the outside, but I'm happy with who I am on the inside. Host: One thing that has not changed about you despite the experiences that you've had in life, is that you're still as kind, empathetic, and sincere to everything, every person that you know.

Everybody. There's so much of goodwill about you. And like you said, that I have asked them, they have wanted to speak about you to be very honest. There have been conversations where before I did the interview, they've spoken to me.

And we have had those conversations, of course, and during the course of the interview as well. Do you sense that support? Does it give you power?

Also, like you said, that in what ways has it changed you this entire experience of dealing with myositis? No, Samantha Ruth Prabhu: of course, like, you know, both, whether it's Kushi or Citadel, they didn't. They waited for me.

Without pressurizing me, they showed support every single day. When they could have been mean, they could have put pressure, they could have made my life, harder, but they were nothing but supportive. The My teams rallied for me.

Whether it was my makeup artist, hairstylist, they didn't just abandon me. They came back. Even without knowing when I was coming back, they came back. Everyone came back. So, I think that, you know, I always considered myself as an independent person, that I was the one who was giving everyone love, but this was the first time that I felt loved, and I needed it.

I needed it from friends, I needed it from family. I needed support. I was helpless. And so, this time has taught me that love is more than just, between a man and a woman.

Love is all around, and love can come from the smallest to the biggest of, you know, like, it can come from anyone. And it's still love. Host: Absolutely. Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Including Sasha and Hash.

Host: Absolutely. We keep seeing them on your posts. Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Yeah. I mean, I have to ask you this before we go, that there is a certain change. Today, we see women cheering for each other, and most of the people I've interviewed, and they have spoken about you especially Rashmi, I have to tell you that whenever we meet, forget interviews

We only speak about you. Okay. And she says, she tells me also that she's very possessive and protective of you. And so is Tamanna and Rashi, and all of them that have spoken about you.

I just want to know that do you sense that kind of sisterhood? And sisterhood some, is something that, you know, eventually works the best for every field. Absolutely. I remember that initially, my, in my initial days with the industry, working in the industry, there were always these articles saying, pitting one woman against the other.

And I think that somewhere that caused a bit of a coldness with one another. And I remember thinking, "Why was this the case when." And I remember saying, "No, I'm not going to succumb to this.

I'm not going to let, this happen," and I started openly coming out in support Yeah. My contemporaries. And I think that that actually made me very happy. It made me very happy.

And when I meet, these girls, they are wonderful. They're sweet. They're normal. They're warm. They are beautiful, and they're so talented, so.

And there are so few of us, so why not appreciate one another? And you know, at the end of the day, we need people to rally for us, and we have only each other.

Whenever Host: there is something that breaks, unfortunately, if you look at it from a different perspective, and if you look at it from a social standpoint, majorly women are at the, on the side where they're blamed, where they're judged, whether they're prejudiced to a certain extent, and that has happened with you. You know, you've battled that, those kind of prejudices all your.

Like, in the last eight months, Samantha Ruth Prabhu: I think the kind of even before you came out and spoke about, you know, battling myositis, you've been battling a lot of those prejudices. Did it ever get to you just because you were not coming out and sharing your standpoint? There was a point where it was completely at you.

I think I've, These last two years have changed me so much as a person, mentally, physically, spiritually. It has made me adapt to everything that is thrown at me.

I don't think they've won. I still feel like I'm winning. Absolutely. Host: So, Samantha Ruth Prabhu: and sometimes, you know, when you don't.

When everything is good and normal, there's no real growth there. If you remember the thing, if you remember important parts of your life, it was. What would you say that would be?

That like, which was the, a defining moment in your life? In Host: my life? Yeah. Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Me Host: deciding to shift to Mumbai, I think.

Yeah, Samantha Ruth Prabhu: and that could've been a Yeah. But it ended up being a success, right? So I think that's when the most growth comes from, when you are in moments where you think you're going to be a failure, or you think that you've lost, or you think that there's no way you can, get up from this.

Those are defining moments in your life, not the smooth parts, not the parts where everything is hunky-dory. So I think that at, those are the moments where you grow the most. And I believe that every time I've fallen is when I have grown the most, when I have learned the most, and when.

You know they say that the rubber band, it like, the boomerang kind of thing. So I believe that, like, that this part of my life is probably what is going to set me up for the future to be better maybe, to be. Because that's always happened in my life.

Every time I've sunk, I somehow come back stronger. Host: Yeah, and I hope it. You already are, and I hope you keep going at it.

You have always spread love around you and honestly, that is the reason why I think you invite a lot of love towards you. And it would be, a shame if I don't show my love towards you so I've got you a few Oh, my God. Before ending. First thing first, so this Samantha Ruth Prabhu: First, I know you cooked for me.

Yes, Host: I cooked this. You Samantha Ruth Prabhu: baked for me. Yes. Host: This is a brownie, which is

Autoimmune diet-prone. What I have not Oh, my God. Any of the items that you asked me not to use, so this is for you. Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Thank you. You can eat it whenever.

Thank you. And as much as you want. It will not affect you at all. Oh, this, ah, this smells so good.

Great. Oh, my God. And these So sweet. You're you're so sweet.

And these are the two things that I want Thank you. To give you. You can open this. This is a And I don't have a gift

Which you can read anything. Gift for you but thank you. No, you don't have to give me a gift.

Thank you. But you can open that if you want. I want This one? Yeah, no. No, this one?

This one? Ha. Okay. I'm just happy that they gave it to me within, like, 12 hours. Okay. What is this?

Okay, I open gifts really badly. That's okay. Even I do that. That's the correct Like, there's abs

Of opening gifts, guys. Yeah. See? Like, I'm Shakuntalam here with so much grace. So much grace right here.

Aric. What is this? What is it? What is this? No, you have to, there's something into this.

This is the thing. This is, this is my gift. Yeah. Okay, wait. "God couldn't be there for everyone, so He sent healers to help others heal.

You are one such blessed soul, Sam." Aw. So this is how the sky looked when you were born. What? Really? Yes. This is actually Wow, that.

Really? Yeah. In Chennai. That's a pretty sky. Of course it is.

Of course it is Must have. A special person must Special. Been born Yeah.

See? I told you. Day. Thank you. But thank you Sam. I am going to put this up for sure at home.

That's beautiful. Thank I just want to for such a thoughtful gift. Thank you so much.

And I just want to tell you that you should always remember that you're loved, you're appreciated, and genuinely, you're admired and idolized like anything. And you may you be that force of nature that you are. That's all. Thank you.

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