Can Actors Be Authentic? Samantha Prabhu's Answer Is A Criticism Of Perfectionism

At the NDTV World Summit 2025, actor and entrepreneur Samantha Ruth Prabhu made a compelling case for why "authenticity" is not a luxury for stars but a necessity for the times.

True to the topic, Samantha's segment on Authenticity - The New Fame was all about authenticity, finding great mentors, and meaning beyond the movies.

Challenged on stage with the old trope that actors and anchors can’t be truly themselves once the cameras roll, Samantha was unflinching. "The industry has curated us to perfection and we lived that perfection for way too long," she said.

"We have tried the route of perfection and it does not work. It actually distances people from you," she continued. Authenticity, she argued, isn’t a finish line but a practice, "I am showing up here… saying that I don’t have everything sorted. I might stumble. I might make mistakes. I am trying to do better."

That honesty has come at a price. Samantha acknowledged that sharing her personal journey regarding her separation, illness, and struggles that invited trolling and judgment. Yet she believes the pay-off is bigger than the backlash.

Actors have the power to influence and hence Samantha believes that it is very important that authenticity should not overpower ambition. "Ambition should… come attached with responsibility and purpose,” she said, urging young Indians to choose mentors “very, very carefully” because they can "define how stable their mental health is" and expand what they dare to dream.

Calling herself a student of podcasts and long-form learning, she credited "really, really good mentors" found online for changing "the trajectory of my life."

Her plea: people in power should be more authentic so others can learn from real failures and recoveries, not just curated highlight reels.

"I came from the most humble background… my family struggled to even put food on the table," Samantha recalled. When her first film in Chennai turned her into an overnight star, the applause felt dissonant. “Authenticity is the sum of your upbringing… if you are not in balance with that upbringing, there can be turmoil." Fame, she suggested, felt unearned until she could root it in purpose.

Inevitably, the talk turned to 'Oo Antava', the chartbuster that redefined her mainstream image. Samantha was clear.

"The reason I did ‘Oo Antava’ was… I wanted to see if I could," she said, calling it a personal challenge because she “never considered herself to be sexy” and wasn’t offered bold roles. But she also drew a line and affirmed that "it was a one-time thing."

Although she refused to talk films at length, Samantha closed with a gentle nod to the craft that made her famous.

The message between the lines was simple: the movies are part of her, not the whole. The star we watch on screen is still there but the woman who shows up, stumbles, learns, mentors, and gives back is the story she most wants to tell now. The stardom remains, but she wants to navigate towards stories that feel true, choices that feel earned, and a career that, in her own words, stays "as real as possible."