Keerthy Suresh recently debuted in Bollywood as the female lead in Baby John, an action thriller directed by Kalees and co-starring Varun Dhawan. In an interview with Galatta India, Keerthy revealed that her Mahanati co-star Samantha Ruth Prabhu had recommended her for the role.
Keerthy on Samantha’s Recommendation
Interestingly, Samantha had portrayed the same character in the 2016 Tamil blockbuster Theri directed by Atlee, which Baby John remakes in Hindi.
Keerthy shared, “She probably had me in mind when this was happening; that’s what Varun also told me. I can’t be grateful enough for that. It’s so sweet of her to say, ‘Keerthy will be able to pull off this character.’ Her performance in Theri is one of my favourites in Tamil. Honestly, I was very scared.”
Keerthy also recalled a heartfelt gesture by Samantha, saying, “I remember her posting a story on Instagram after watching the trailer of Baby John, saying, ‘I wouldn’t have shared this one with anyone else, but you.’ It was so sweet and meant a lot to me. I couldn’t have asked for a better debut. This is one of the characters I really love, and I am so glad I got to play it in Hindi.”
The two actors had previously worked together in Nag Ashwin’s 2018 Telugu period drama Mahanati, which earned Keerthy the National Award for Best Actress.
Samantha’s Support for Varun Dhawan
Samantha, who recently worked with Varun in Raj & DK’s espionage series Citadel: Honey Bunny on Prime Video India, also played a key role in motivating him for Baby John. Speaking in an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, Varun said, “Both Citadel: Honey Bunny and Baby John are Samantha’s conviction for me. We’d spoken about something and it happened. I have to thank Samantha for that, 100%. She gave me a lot of confidence that I’m on the right track. It matters a lot.”
Acknowledging this, Samantha responded, “It’s my manifestation for Varun. I feel like this will be Varun’s year.”
Baby John also stars Jackie Shroff, Wamiqa Gabbi, and Rajpal Yadav in pivotal roles.
