Citadel pushing me to my maximum capabilities: Samantha

Actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu says she was excited to reunite with her The Family Man directors Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK for the Indian chapter of Citadel, a globe-trotting spy drama.

The 35-year-old actress features alongside Varun Dhawan on the Indian original series within the Citadel franchise, whose flagship show, featuring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Richard Madden, launches on Prime Video on April 28.

"I am privileged to work with Raj and DK again, they are (at) the top of their game, they gave me such an amazing character with Raji (in The Family Man 2). With Citadel we are pushing the boundaries even further, with action, with emotions, it is quite a package. It is like working with family. There is equal amount of fun and challenge,” the actor told PTI in an interview.

Billed as a “local original spy series”, the project hails from Prime Video and AGBO, the production banner co-founded by the Hollywood filmmaking duo Russo Brothers.

Samantha said even though her health posed a major challenge, she enjoyed doing action for Citadel. She is grateful to the team for being patient and understanding of her. The actor was diagnosed with myositis, an autoimmune condition, in October last year.

“Physically, the show is very intense, there is a lot of action in ‘Citadel’ and we recently shot something and we are very happy and proud to show it to the world, I am really looking forward to that. Considering the challenges that I am facing health-wise, I am glad I am able to do what I am doing in Citadel. Everyone is being patient and kind and I am truly grateful for that,” the “Yashoda” star said.

Asked whether she took special precautions to avoid injuries during the action sequences, Samantha said she has often been warned for not being too careful in such scenes.

“I am the worst at that, I just think, ‘I just have to go and do and do my best’. I have been told by other actors that, ‘It is not cool, you should be better prepared, you should protect yourself better’. But I am all very eager to dive into it, especially for a girl to do action and it is not really every day that you get a tag that, ‘she is good at action’. So, now you want to do better and you want to push it, and you don’t want that tag to go away. I think that is what is pushing me to my maximum capabilities.”

She is currently awaiting the release of her pan-India movie Shaakuntalam.