Star worship gained new momentum with a die-hard fan of Samantha Ruth Prabhu building a temple in his house premises in Alapadu village of Bapatla district on the occasion of the actor's birthday.
Tenali Sandeep, who is a self-proclaimed fan of the 'Yashoda' actor, unveiled Samantha's statue and cut a cake on Friday as the actor turned 36 years old.
The statue is covered in a red coloured saree, teamed with a green blouse.
People from neighbouring villages thronged Sandeep's house to celebrate Samantha's birthday.
Sandeep said that he wished to build a big temple, but could not do so due to financial constraints.
Apart from acting, Sandeep admires Samantha for her charitable works. He also distributed food among the poor to mark the actor's birthday.
Samantha, who comes from a humble background, has made a name in the Tamil and Telugu industry. The actor also entered the Hindi industry with the Amazon Prime Original show The Family Man Season 2.
She is also gearing up for the Hindi version of Citadel, where she will act with Varun Dhawan.
Sandeep told ANI, "Samantha took the initiative to perform heart operations for needy children through a foundation. As she herself hails from a humble background, she always stands for the needy ones. This incident made my admiration double for her."
Samantha suffers from an auto-immune disease called Myositis. She has talked about it on multiple occasions. Sandeep said the villagers prayed for Samantha's speedy recovery. They are very happy as the actor is now doing well.
Sandeep has not met the 'Oo Antava' actor in person. But he surely harbours a wish to meet her one day.
Sagar Arya
Irvine Iqbal
