Samantha Ruth

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Samantha Ruth

     Samantha Ruth Prabhu was born to a Telugu father Prabhu and a Malayali mother Ninette Prabhu and was brought up in a typical middle-class household, in the Chennai suburb of Pallavaram, Tamil Nadu, becoming fluent in the Tamil language. Commenting on her sense of identity, the actress has stated that despite her Telugu and Malayalam background she sees herself as a Tamil, as she was brought up speaking the language along with English at home. Samantha attended and completed her schooling at St.Stephens Matriculation School, Pallavaram, Chennai Srimathi Sundaravalli Memorial School, Chromepet, and Holy Angels Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School, T.Nagar, Chennai. In High School, she was very good at economics hailed by her teachers. She then went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Stella Maris College, Chennai. Samantha has said that she did modelling for earning pocket money, and that's how her acting career came about.

     Samantha's first release was Indira Productions' Gautham Menon directed Telugu film, Ye Maaya Chesave. The film, simultaneously made in Tamil as Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, created much anticipation prior to release, due primarily to the first-time-collaboration between Gautham Menon and composer A. R. Rahman. The actress was signed up for the project in mid August 2009 and completed shoots across India and the United States, and the film was released on 26 February 2010. In the film, Samantha plays the lead character Jessie, which was also the working title of the film, a Malayali Saint Thomas Christian girl living in Hyderabad, with whom the male protagonist, played by Naga Chaitanya, falls in love. Upon release of the film, Samantha received very positive reviews for her portrayal, with the film itself garnering much critical acclaim. Critics at Sify praised Samantha as a "scene-stealer" and her beauty as "alluring", adding that "she was the girl to watch out for". Jeevi, from the Idlebrain reviews site, wrote that "Samantha's debut is one of the best heroine debuts in Telugu cinema" and noted that the "minute expressions she gave spoke volumes about her", whilst labelling the film as a "classic". Samantha, alongside her co-star, Naga Chaitanya, also appeared in a cameo role in the Tamil version of the film. Both the Telugu and the Tamil versions of the films proved to be grand successes, propelling Samantha's career into bigger projects. She followed up her collaborations with Gautham Menon and A. R. Rahman by appearing in the music video for the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 promotional song, Semmozhiyaana Tamizh Mozhiyaam, which Menon directed and Rahman composed.

     Samantha's next release was the Sathya Jyothi-produced romantic drama, Baana Kaathadi, opposite Adharvaa. The film was actually the third Tamil project signed by the actress, but its release preceded the first two that she was contracted for due to delays in their completion. Following terms agreed upon in early 2009, the film continued shoots for a year, and after several postponements finally released in August 2010 to positive response. In the film, Samantha plays a student of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), the first such role in Tamil cinema. Her next release was Ravi Varman's Moscowin Kavery, originally her very first contract. The shooting for the film began in August 2007, with Samantha, then briefly credited with the screen name Yasodha, joining the team later in the year. The film introduced a host of new actors, with the music scored by Thaman, who was making his debut as a film music director. In an interview, much prior to release in 2008, Ravi Varman mentioned that he had decided that Samantha would be the lead actress for his film within three minutes after viewing one of her commercial assignments.

     In the interview, he went on to describe her as an actress with "intelligence" and "potential", whilst drawing comparisons with the noted actress, Revathi. However, due to Ravi Varman's prior commitments as cinematographer in other projects, the film languished in development hell, eventually releasing in August 2010. The film earned poor reviews from critics unanimously. However Samantha's performance was credited as one of the sole highlights that the film offered. In August 2008, while still completing her last three projects, Samantha also signed up to play the lead role of a modern girl in the Narain starrer, Pookada Ravi. However, despite the shooting following schedule at regular intervals the project has stalled since 2009, and the film seems unlikely to be released. Samantha went on to feature in Vamsi Paidipally's Telugu film Brindaavanam in which she had a supporting role alongside NTR Jr and Kajal Aggarwal. She had signed for the film in October 2009 much before her firlst release [Ye Maaya Chesave]. Her performance as Indu was well received despite the role having a shorter screen time than the ones she had played in her previous films, and the film became her second successful one in Telugu.

     In 2011, Samantha made a guest appearance as a mentally ill patient in Gautham Menon's Nadunisi Naaygal, before featuring in the big budget Telugu film, Dookudu, alongside Mahesh Babu. The film was a blockbuster. The film opened to positive review with critics from CNN-IBN labelling the film as "a treat for Mahesh's fans", adding that Samantha "looks good in song sequences" The Times of India also praised the film mentioning that "Samantha looks beautiful and has done a great job, though her role as Prashanthi isn't too lengthy". The film took the largest ever opening for a Telugu film and grossed ?125.8 million on the first day of its release. Samantha was then signed as the female lead in two big budget projects in Tamil, Mani Ratnam's Kadal and Shankar's Ai but was forced to opt out from both films, since she was suffering from a skin disease and could not work for two months.

     In 2012, she made a guest appearance in Gautham Menon's Ekk Deewana Tha which was a remake of the director's own films, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa and Ye Maaya Chesave, repeating her role from Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. She then featured in S. S. Rajamouli's live action Telugu-Tamil bilingual project Eega/Naan E The film was a high commercial success—according to The Economic Times it grossed more than ? 1.25 billion and went on to be dubbed in several foreign and Indian languages. Idlebrain in their review wrote, "Samantha's run of success continues as she did extremely well as a bereaved lover." She then signed on Gautham Menon's trilingual project, playing the female lead in all three languages – Telugu, Tamil and Hindi and shooting all scenes thrice with different co-actors across languages The Telugu and Tamil versions titled Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu and Neethaane En Ponvasantham released in December 2012, while the Hindi version, Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau has been shelved.

     In the beginning of 2013, she appeared in Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu that featured Venkatesh and Mahesh Babu in the lead, marking her second film with Mahesh Babu. The film was critically and commercially successful and her performance was praised by critics along with the other female lead, Anjali. Mahesh S Koneru of 123telugu.com commented on her performance stating "Samantha is beautiful and adorable in this movie. Her cute expressions and romantic scenes with Mahesh Babu make you want to root for her". IBN Live too commented positively on her performance stating "Good to see Samantha shed her glamorous side and welcome performance-oriented roles, which she only handles with deftness and ease". Later, in February, she played the lead role in Nandini Reddy's Jabardasth co-starring Siddharth. The film, which was an unofficial remake of the 2010 Hindi film Band Baaja Baaraat was commercially successful. Oneindia Entertainment in their review commented "Samantha has good scope in the film and her bubbly characterisation is entertaining. The actress will surely impress you in both romantic and emotional sequences. She then starred in Trivikram Srinivas' Attharintiki Daaredhi with Pawan Kalyan, which released to positive reviews and became the highest-grossing Telugu film of the year. Samantha's next film Ramayya Vasthavayya directed by Harish Shankar, featuring NTR Jr released to mixed reviews on 11 October 2013.

     Samantha's first 2014 release Manam saw her playing the role of a mother for the first time in her career.The film received highly positive reviews and Samantha's performance was praised by the critics. Deccan Chronicle wrote, "for Samantha, this is going to be one of her best performance till date. She perfectly fits into the two characters she played and steals the show". Her next film was the long delayed Autonagar Surya under the direction of Deva Katta that saw her pairing with Naga Chaitanya for the third time. The film, which had been in production since 2010, opened to mixed reviews. Her next releases were the high budget action-masala films Alludu Seenu directed by V. V. Vinayak and Rabhasa directed by Santosh Srinivas in Telugu and N. Lingusamy's Anjaan in Tamil. Anjaan opened to negative reviews but had good opening at the box office at the box office, although the film was average. Her performance was panned by critics[63] and Rabhasa, which was Samantha's third film with producer Bellamkonda Suresh in a three film contract, opened to decent reviews. Samantha's next release was the Tamil action thriller Kaththi directed by AR Murugadoss, which received positive reviews and was a box office success.

     Trivikram Srinivas's S/O Satyamurthy was her first release of 2015. In spite of mixed reviews, the film was a high commercial success. Samantha has a handful of Tamil projects coming up. She is a part of Vijay Milton's road film 10 Endrathukulla, and Samantha has said that her role in the film was the toughest she has played till date. The film will be releasing on October 21, 2015. She is also a part Velraj's Untitled Velraj Project opposite Dhanush. Samantha said that it will be her best work to date. In 24, she is collaborating with its director Vikram Kumar and her co-star Suriya for the second time. She is a part of Brahmotsavam (film), she will be collaborating with Mahesh Babu for 3rd time. The movie has 3 heroines, she will be playing the lead heroine. The filming of it had began on September 16, 2015. Samantha will be working with Dhanush again after Untitled Velraj Project, the movie is titled 'Vada Chennai' and the filming will begin in Early 2016. She is currently shooting for Vijay 59, which has Vijay in the lead role and it will be directed by Atlee. Samantha will be playing a cameo role in Arjun, Divya Matrum Karthik, remake of Bangalore Days. Samantha is also part of Trivikram Srinivas's next A... Aa - Anasuya Ramalingam Vs Anand Vihari, she will be pairing up with Nithin for the first time. She will be seen as Anasuya Ramalingam playing one of the title role. Shooting will start on October 10, 2015.

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