Samantha: Yashoda and U Turn are thrillers but starkly different from one another

Samantha Ruth Prabhu, or Samantha, has been striving hard to promote her upcoming film Yashoda, which comes out in theatres on November 11. Yashoda, aside from the other merits, marks her return to the thriller genre with the 2018 film U Turn being her most recent release in this regard. And while the two films bear no resemblance with one another in terms of subject matter, a few on the internet have alluded to the fact that Yashoda and U Turn carry the same eerie tone about them. 

In a recent interview with a media outlet, the 35-year-old actress spoke about what attracted her to accept the role and how, despite Yashoda belonging to the same thriller space as U Turn, she found the two films to be quite distinct from each other.  

"I got a huge shock when I first listened to the story. And I couldn't fathom that it was all based on real facts - I had goosebumps. I do not normally agree to do a film right away because I like to give myself time but when Hari and Harish, the director duo, approached me with the Yashoda idea, I said yes in the first narration alone. I don't like to repeat genres either or take on roles that are similar - you can see that being the case if you check my filmography - and while Yashoda and U Turn do seem similar (with respect to the genre) at the surface level, both the film are very, very differently from one another. And I am sure that the audience will be as shocked after watching the film as I was after listening to the story," said Samantha in the interview. 

Yashoda is centred on the subject of surrogacy and the many illegal activities associated with it. The film follows Samantha's titular character who, as a surrogate mother herself, unravels incriminating evidence against the nexus and decides on exposing the bigwigs involved. The film also stars Unni Mukundan, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Murali Sharma, Rao Ramesh, and others. 

U Turn, on the other hand, saw Samantha play the role of a journalist who investigates the accidents occurring on a flyover and ends up discovering a rather dark secret behind it all. The film was the remake of the Kannada hit of the same name with Pawan Kumar of Lucia fame directing both versions.