Keerthy Suresh Credits Samantha Ruth Prabhu for Recommending Her to Atlee for Baby John: “I Can’t Be Grateful Enough”

Keerthy Suresh made her Bollywood debut last week as the female lead in Kalees’ action thriller Baby John, starring opposite Varun Dhawan. In an interview with Galatta India, Keerthy shared that her Mahanati co-star, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, had recommended her for the role.

Keerthy explained, “Samantha probably had me in mind when this opportunity came up; that’s what Varun 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 favorites in Tamil. Honestly, I was very nervous.”

Keerthy further added, “I remember Samantha posted 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 such a sweet gesture, and it meant a lot to me. I couldn’t have asked for a better debut. I really love this character, and I’m so glad I got to play it in Hindi.”

Keerthy and Samantha previously shared screen space in Nag Ashwin’s 2018 Telugu period drama Mahanati, for which Keerthy won the National Award for Best Actress.

Samantha’s support has extended beyond Keerthy. She also worked with Varun Dhawan recently in Raj & DK’s espionage show Citadel: Honey Bunny on Prime Video India. Varun spoke about how Samantha motivated him, saying, “Both Citadel: Honey Bunny and Baby John are Samantha’s conviction for me. We’d talked about something, and it happened. I have to thank Samantha 100%. She gave me a lot of confidence that I’m on the right track. It matters a lot.” Samantha acknowledged her influence, saying, “It’s my manifestation for Varun. I feel like this will be Varun’s year.”