Samantha Ruth Prabhu is one of India’s most famous actors, but her star-turn in Citadel: Honey Bunny now has her reaching a global audience with Prime Video’s gritty international spy franchise. While the award-winning movie star is known for winning multiple best actor awards, she relishes the chance to mix it up in more physical roles, and in a recent conversation with M&F, explains how she develops her strength and flexibility.
Citadel: Honey Bunny, now streaming on Prime, is the Indian backstory to the infamous global spy network, and its tenacious enemies, and comes hot on the heels of the original Citadel, and the Citadel: Diana series that have both already proved to be an adrenaline-fueled hit. Beginning her showbiz career as a model, Samantha has won critical acclaim for her performances, but when it comes to acing her action roles, she says she is all-in.
“It is challenging,” says the beauty. “But, it is also what I have been dreaming of, you know? Because every actor wants to be offered layered and complicated roles to play. So, I can’t complain about anything (laughs), I was very, very excited to be given this opportunity and I think I have made the most of it.”
In the show, produced by Indian cinema ground breakers; Raj and DK, Samantha plays struggling actress ‘Honey’ who is thrust into the world of espionage alongside Varun Dhawan’s ‘Bunny,’ a stuntman who gets them both into the underground criminal world when a small-time side hustle goes seriously wrong. For her part, Samantha, who is one of India’s most highly paid actors, had no intention of shying away from the physical requirements on set.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu Shares How She Beats Up Those “Really Big Guys” On Screen
Action performances are often underrated because critics fail to take into account the type of skill required to remember lines, hit marks, and make the correct facial expressions, all while gasping for breath because of the exhilarating scene that’s in progress. “I think that now, working with Raj and DK often, I’ve kind of made martial arts part of my daily routine,” explains Samantha. “Because I better be prepared for anything that they throw at me.”
Far from take up a short bootcamp before a project, Samantha is keen to stay in shape. “I started out, not being able to like lift my leg up, you know with the high kicks…” shares the star, recalling her limitations earlier on in her career. “And then I realized, I’m already small, and I have to beat-up really big guys [laughs], so unless I move—I have a lot of agility—and I can move and make it look bigger, (otherwise) it’s going to be lost and it’s not going to look very real.”
No doubt, her martial arts training has been essential for those strikes and kicks. Samantha has studied Krav Maga, a self defence system that originates in Isreal that uses techniques from aikido, boxing, judo, karate and wrestling. Samantha has even trained in sword fighting and artery in order to steal her scenes. “Just basics, in everything,” says the star. “So that I don’t look like a complete idiot.”
DK jokes that Samantha may be horse riding on her next project, and you can’t rule it out. The actor feels that presenting a strong and capable female presence is a duty. “
It is very, very important,” she says. “I feel an immense sense of responsibility, to portray roles that are close to accurate representations of women in society because, more often than not, we get it wrong with our depiction of women in cinema and series because somehow, a woman’s identity is connected to the relationship that she is in, as opposed to her life, and I love the fact that Honey reflects strength, determination, she’s a warrior, she’s a survivor, she’s a mother, and I think that is close enough representation, because women today are world leaders, changemakers, and it’s time that there is accurate portrayal on cinema as well.”
Citadel: Honey Bunny is streaming now on Prime. Check out M&F’s full interview with Samantha, Raj, and DK here.
