Samantha Ruth Prabhu was told to lose her abs for Shaakuntalam: 'They wouldn't be suitable'

Director Gunasekhar has said that Samantha Ruth Prabhu readily took some time to work on her figure for Shaakuntalam.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu had to work on her figure so that she looked suitable for the soft and tender character of Shakuntala in his latest film Shaakuntalam, director Gunasekhar has said. Samantha plays the titular role of Shakuntala in the film that released on April 14 in theatres. It released across five languages- Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada. ()

Samantha Ruth Prabhu in a still from Shaakuntalam.

Based on the classic play Shakuntala by ancient India's poet and playwright Kalidasa, Shaakuntalam tells the love story of King Dushyant and Shakuntala. Dev Mohan played the role of King Dushyant who falls in love with Shakuntala who was the child of ‘apsara’ Maneka and sage Vishwamitra. Sachin Khedekar also stars in the film as Shaakuntala's foster father.

Gunasekhar was talking about not having any second choice for the lead role when he told Times of India, “Sam didn’t say no on my first narration but she asked for some time as she was unwell. I have shown some of the material how the film will look like and she liked it. I asked Samantha to rework her figure because her abs or biceps would be unsuitable for the soft and tender look of Shakuntala. So to work on her look, she asked for some time but not for its content. I had no plan B actress for haakuntalam, from day one it was always Samantha.”

Prior to the release, Samantha had told ANI, "It's a love story. And love is like a universe in itself. Our cultural heritage is rich. And the story of this film is inspired from one of our oldest classics. Apart from the story, the movie has high-level graphics and special effects." The film received mixed reviews on the first day. It made an opening collection of ₹5 crore, as per a Sacnilk report.

Prior to Shaakuntalam, Samantha featured in the lead role of an undercover agenty in the sci-fi thriller film Yashoda. Next, she has the romantic film Khusi lined up for released. The upcoming film also features Vijay Deverakonda. Samantha has also joined Varun Dhawan for the Indian version of Prime Video's action thriller web series Citadel.