EXCLUSIVE: Samantha absolutely said no to body doubles for action scenes in Yashoda: Director duo Hari-Harish
Hari and Harish, who are making their directorial debut in Telugu with Yashoda, spilled the beans on Samantha's first reaction after reading the script.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu was always the first choice for Yashosa, director duo Hari Shankar and Harish Narayan reveal in an exclusive chat with Pinkvilla. Known for designing India's first Viewpoint film Orr Eravuu and Ambuli (2012), Tamil's first stereoscopic 3D film, Hari and Harish this time bring a plot that can pull the national-level audience to theatres.
"We had all the recognition, and awards but we wanted to reach a mainstream audience and bring something different. So we took a break after our last film and spent 2 years working on Yashoda," said Hari and Harish who are known as pioneer filmmakers of three consecutive first-of-its-kind movies in Tamil.
Hari and Harish, who are making their directorial debut in Telugu with Yashoda spill the beans on Samantha's first reaction to reading the script. "We wanted to approach a star who can understand different storytelling, which is also commercial to meet mainstream audiences' expectations. We wanted to get someone who can perform well and has equal stardom...the first choice was Samantha and luckily, within 25 mins of the first meeting, she said yes."
"Once the narration was completed, Samantha in her exact words said, 'I'm getting goosebumps, I want to do this film', the directors reveal adding that Sam was approached for Yashoda even before she was on board for The Family Man 2.
The director duo who are enjoying this 'sweet pressure' of making a Pan-India film revealed to us that Sam refused to take any help for action scenes. "The major action portion of the film has been shot on sets. For the fight sequences, Sam wanted to be there for rehearsals that went for 2 or 3 days... she wanted to do all the scenes herself. She absolutely said no to body doubles and even in a few scenes where the rope is required for safety, she did it on her own. She was totally enjoying it."
Hollywood action director Yannick Ben and Venkat Master from the Tollywood industry have designed major action sequences in Yashoda.
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