(This article was first published on 22 December 2021. It has been republished from The Quint's archives over Samantha Prabhu's appearance on a Koffee With Karan episode on 21 July.)
Samantha Ruth Prabhu is one name that now trends frequently on social media. The Tamil-Telugu actress has set the screens on fire with her new track ‘Oo Antava…Oo Oo Antava’ from Allu Arjun's film Pushpa, her interviews are creating quite some buzz, and she has an impressive lineup of upcoming films.
But her social media mentions are not soaring for any of these rightful reasons – and to say that being Samantha Ruth Prabhu on internet is ‘difficult’ or ‘hard’ is simply an understatement.
For the vile trolls are blinded by the one thing that is of no concern to the public – her separation from former husband Naga Chaitanya.
Barrage of Slut-Shaming Comments
I have been following Samantha on social media for many years now. But ever since she announced her separation in October, she has been fielding non-stop questions from nameless, faceless, mannerless nobodies on social media. While she has maintained a dignified silence since, she gave up and responded.
A Twitter user named Kamarali Dukandar tweeted: “Samantha is a divorced, ruined, secondhand item who has Rs 50 crores tax-free money, robbed from a gentleman (sic).”
Dukandar got schooled for his disgusting comments, when Samantha simply wrote: “God bless your soul.”
While their favorite trope of speculation is that she received crores of money as alimony, others have been accusing her of having an affair, some blaming her friends for the divorce, and multiple other reasons – all blaming Samantha for the separation.
Even if she did receive alimony or had an affair – she is not answerable to anyone, least of all these hateful bots on social media.
Meanwhile, the comments section of Chaitanya’s posts is filled with love, and respect for him and his upcoming films – and has simply no mention of the divorce. Not that I am complaining, but I wish we lived in a world where the same empathy was extended to Samantha as well.
If anything, this shows the double-standards in how a man and a woman go through divorce differently.
Why did the man got out of it with ‘respect’, but the woman subjected to blame game and non-stop misogynistic attack – mostly coming from men themselves?
"They say I had affairs, never wanted children, that I am an opportunist and now that I have had abortions. A divorce is an extremely painful process. Let alone allowing me the time to heal. This attack on me personally, has been relentless. But I promise you this, I will never allow this or anything they say, break me,” the actor wrote on 8 October.
We are almost in January, and the attacks against her have not stopped.
Attacked as A Married Woman, Attacked as a Separated Woman
Actually, in the case of Samantha, the attacks never really stopped since she married Naga Chaitanya in 2017. Chaitanya, also a Telugu actor, belongs to the illustrious Akkineni family.
Ever since, Samantha was constantly under public scrutiny, constantly putting up with the free advice dished out by these very nameless, faceless, and mannerless trolls on how to be a “decent married woman.”
To cite an example, in 2018, Samantha’s holiday photo with her then husband, became the talk of the town with the moral police brigade supposedly teaching her how a Akkineni daughter-in-law should behave.
Responding to her red floral bikini photo, one man wrote – “Pls don’t post dis type of pics bcoz ur not samantharuthprabhu ur the daughter in law of Akkineni family (sic).”
According to multiple men who made similar comments, since Samantha was married, she should give up any ounce of self-respect and bodily autonomy.
“For all those of you who thought you had a say in how I should live my life after marriage”, she wrote on Instagram and followed it with a photo of the middle-finger.
She was lectured on how to live as a married woman, she is being lectured on how to live as a divorced woman – can we please let Samantha be?
Back Off, Samantha on the Rise
For someone who has more than a decade's worth of experience, Samantha has aged like fine wine, her style statement more amplified than ever before, her Instagram game being one of the best among South Indian actors.
Samantha recently made national headlines – garnering praise from both her peers and critics for her portrayal of Sri Lankan Tamil rebel in Family Man 2. But her role also drew criticism for the negative depiction of the Eelam – with tweet after tweet, and comment after comment asking her to apologise for just portraying a character.
"Everybody wanted me to react to The Family Man issue. There were like 65,000 tweets hammering me. I just thought no. I will speak when I have to speak and when I feel like saying something. I will not be bulldozed into saying something," Samantha told Film Companion.
Like always, the 34-year-old handled the controversy head-on.
Samantha now has an impressive lineup of movies, playing diverse characters. She is shooting for upcoming Telugu period drama Shakuntalam, which she says is a “dream role.” Her Tamil film Kaathu Vaakula Rendu Kadhal, which also stars superstars Nayanthara and Vijay Sethupathi, will hit the screens in 2022.
And wait for it – she is all set to make her international debut with the film directed by BAFTA-winning director Philip John, who is best known for the 2010 British period drama series Downton Abbey. She plays bisexual Tamil woman who runs a detective agency in the film – which is an adaptation of Arrangements of Love, written by novelist Timeri N Murari.
So, dear trolls, you may continue calling her ‘ruined, or secondhand’ or you back off (like it is the decent thing to do) – but the joke really is already on you.
Samantha is living her best years, career-wise – and the shade of trolls is one thing that cannot stop her juggernaut.
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