Shaakuntalam, a Telugu mythological drama starring Samantha as Shakuntala and directed by Gunasekhar, is set to release on Friday, April 14. A day ahead of the film’s release, Samantha shared images of all the actors who have played the role of Shakuntala in films over the years, starting from 1920. Samantha’s note accompanying the images said: “It has truly been the greatest honour. Shaakuntalam is yours from tomorrow.”
Shakuntala is a mythological character from the Adi Parva, the first chapter of the epic Mahabharata. The character is further elaborated in the play Abhignyana Shakuntalam by Kalidasa. In the play, Shakuntala is the daughter of the sage Vishwamitra and the apsara Menaka, raised by another sage Kanva. She marries a king named Dushyanta, but when separated from him, she is cursed by another sage that her husband would forget everything about her. The film tells the story of their eventual reunion.
While scores of actors have played Shakuntala in films and television over the years, here’s the list of actors and the films in which they played the role of Shakuntala, as shared by Samantha:
And finally, Samantha in Gunasekhar’s Shaakuntalam (2023), which is releasing this Friday in five languages — Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, and Tamil. Apart from Samantha, the movie stars Dev Mohan, Mohan Babu, Madhoo, Allu Arha, and Aditi Balan, among others. While Gunasekhar’s daughter Neelima Guna has produced Shaakuntalam, producer Dil Raju later joined hands with Gunaa Teamworks to distribute the film.