Manoj Bajpayee on his The Family Man co-star Samantha Ruth Prabhu: The way she was straining herself on the set scared me

Manoj Bajpayee and Samantha Ruth Prabhu were seen together in the second season of the much talked-about Raj & DK spy thriller series The Family Man. During a recent event for promoting his upcoming film Gulmohar, which marks veteran actress Sharmila’s OTT debut, Manoj was asked if he wanted to say a few words for Samantha. Responding to which, he said, “Go easy on yourself.” 

Describing her as a very hardworking actress, Manoj said that he can relate to Samantha’s dedication. “But just the way I saw her working (physically) on the sets of The Family Man. It scared me. Kitna sata rahi hai aapne aapko yeh,” he added. 

Later, sharing the snippet of the interview on Twitter, Samantha wrote, “I will try, Sir”, also ‘hugs’ and ‘heart’ emoticons. In The Family Man, Samantha was seen in the character of Raji, an unwavering Sri Lankan Tamil liberation fighter on a suicide mission. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, the series also featured Priyamani, Sharad Kelkar, Neeraj Madhav, Sharib Hashmi, Dalip Tahil, Sunny Hinduja and Shreya Dhanwanthary.

Cut to Gulmohar, the Rahul V Chittella directorial traces the final four days of the Batra family in their old family home in Delhi, as they are moving to a new city. The film also features Amol Palekar, Suraj Sharma, Simran, Kaveri Seth, Nargis Nandal, Tripti Sahu and Utsavi Jha. Gulmohar is scheduled to release on Disney+ Hotstar on March 3.

Samantha, on the other hand, will be seen next in the long-awaited Telugu historical drama film, Shaakuntalam, which is written and directed by Gunasekhar. It’s the screen adaptation of Kalidasa’s acclaimed play, Abhigyanam Shakuntalam. Set to release in the theatres on April 14, the film also features Dev Mohan, Mohan Babu, Jisshu Sengupta, Madhoo, Gautami, Aditi Balan and Ananya Nagalla.

The actress will also appear with Varun Dhawan in Citadel, the Indian instalment of Patrick Moran and the Russo Brothers’ science fiction drama television series. It’s directed by Raj and DK. The original series starred Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Amazon Prime Video.