14 March 2023
Hyderabad

Samantha, who is playing the titular role in Gunasekhar’s Shaakuntalam, is spellbound by the film. The actress watched the film earlier today and heaped high praise on the director for crafting “a beautiful film.” She wrote on her Twitter page, “And I finally watched the movie today! @Gunasekhar1 garu.. you have my heart. What a beautiful film! One of our greatest epics brought to life so endearingly! I can’t wait for our family audiences to be swept away by the powerful emotions!”

In another tweet, she extended her thanks to film’s presenter Dil Raju and producer Neelima, while insisting that “Shaakuntalam will be forever close to me”. She added, “And all you kids out there… you’re going to love our magical world! DilRaju garu and @neelima_guna thankyou for this wonderful journey.#Shaakuntalam will forever be close to me!”

Based on Kalidasa's acclaimed Sanskrit play Abhijnana Shakuntalam, the film revolves around the epic love story of Shakuntala and King Dushyant, portrayed by Samantha and Dev Mohan (Malayalam) respectively.

Dr M Mohan Babu will be seen playing a key supporting role, while the likes of Sachin Khedekar, Kabir Bedi, Prakash Raj, Madhubala, Gautami, Aditi Balan, Ananya Nagalla and Jisshu Sengupta complete the other supporting cast.

A Mani Sharma musical, the film will sail into cinemas in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi on April 14. It will have a 3D release as well.