Samantha Ruth Prabhu exposes exhibitor’s remark before Maa Inti Bangaram hit Rs 100 cr mark

3 min readHyderabadJul 12, 2026 04:51 PM IST

Samantha Ruth Prabhu in a still from Maa Inti Bangaram, which has crossed the Rs 100 crore mark worldwide. (Photo: Tralala Moving Pictures)

As Maa Inti Bangaram crossed the Rs 100 crore mark at the worldwide box office, Samantha Ruth Prabhu took to Instagram not to celebrate with numbers but to share a story about the perception her film faced before it even released.

In an Instagram post, the actor revealed that a friend had called an exhibitor in a B-centre before the film’s release to gauge expectations. Samantha said she was listening in on the conversation without the exhibitor’s knowledge.

“My friend asked, ‘What do you think about Maa Inti Bangaram? How much do you think it’ll open at?'” Samantha Ruth Prabhu wrote. “The exhibitor didn’t hesitate. ‘Why would anyone watch a heroine film? If she’s in a big hero’s film, fine. People know her for the glamour. But a film led by a heroine? Who will come? Nobody.'”

The actor said that exchange captured the perception Maa Inti Bangaram was up against before its release. “That was the perception before Maa Inti Bangaram released,” she wrote.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu also admitted to the anxiety that came with putting out a female-led film in a market where the concept remains a commercial risk. “Before the release of Maa Inti Bangaram, I remember obsessing over one thing: were people even talking about the film? Were the assets we were putting out reaching people? Did they know this film existed?” she wrote.

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But rather than framing the Rs 100 crore milestone as a personal victory, the actor positioned it as proof that the risk was worth taking. “I think real change only happens when someone is willing to take a risk. Most of the time, those risks don’t pay off. Every once in a while, they do. For us, this one did,” she said.

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Samantha ended the post with a forward-looking appeal. “I hope that the next time someone calls an exhibitor in a B or C centre and asks about a female-led film, the answer isn’t an instant no. Maybe it’s, ‘Let’s see.’ Because the truth is, we will never really know,” she wrote.

Directed by B.V. Nandini Reddy and created by Raj Nidimoru, Maa Inti Bangaram released on June 19 and has been running successfully in theatres for over three weeks. The film is produced by Samantha herself alongside Raj and Himank Reddy Duvvuru under Tralala Moving Pictures.

The movie surpassed Anushka Shetty’s Arundhati within ten days of release to become the highest-grossing female-led Telugu film of all time. It also stars Gulshan Devaiah, Diganth, Gautami and Sreemukhi, with music by Santhosh Narayanan.

With this milestone, Samantha Ruth Prabhu becomes the first actress to deliver a Rs 100 crore grosser as a solo lead in Telugu cinema, a number that the exhibitor in her story said would never come.