A young ardent fan of South Indian actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu has constructed a temple for her and placed her idol in it, at his house at Alapadu village of Tsunduru mandal in Bapatla district of Andhra Pradesh on Friday, coinciding with her birthday. The village is about 10 km from Tenali and around 40 km from Guntur.
Twenty-nine-year-old Sandeep from Tenali, a car driver, spent a major part of his earnings on construction of the temple. Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Sandeep said he was impressed by the good work taken up by the actor through Pratyusha Support, a charity that sponsors free medical services for children with congenital heart diseases.
From admiration to devotion
Speaking about his ‘‘admiration-to-devotion’‘ story, Mr. Sandeep said initially he liked Samantha as a good actor and started following her over a decade ago. “I almost became her devotee after I came to know that she has been donating her hard-earned money to help children with congenital heart diseases,” he said, adding “Samantha comes from a middle class family, and after achieving fame and money with hard work, she started giving it back to society and became a role model for many. I decided that she deserves to be worshipped in a temple and constructed one for her,” he said.
The temple project, he says, got delayed due to personal and financial problems. “My father succumbed to a kidney disease. I constructed my house by taking loans and I also incurred huge expenditure for my marriage. However, I managed to complete the temple project now,” Mr. Sandeep said.
Referring to people’s reaction to his decision, he says his relatives, the village residents and others initially thought it was a foolish decision. “Initially, my wife was also reluctant, as she was worried about what the villagers would say. But, after I explained to her the reason behind my decision, my wife, family members, relatives and almost all others were convinced and supported me,” he says.
“We all love Samantha as an actor. Our admiration for her grew further after seeing her charity work for the needy children” says Mr. Sandeep’s wife, Deepti.
The couple’s elder son opened the temple in the presence of a large gathering of village residents. The inauguration was followed by celebration of Samantha’s birthday by offering food, organising music programmes and other activities.
Idol sculpted in 15 days
Sri Ram Akkala, the sculptor from Tenali who carved the idol, said that it took him more than 15 days to complete the idol. “We used fibre and other material to make the idol,” he said, informing that after Khushboo, a temple has been constructed for Samantha now. She is probably the first actor in Andhra Pradesh to have this honour, he said.
Mr. Sandeep tried in vain to meet Samantha once in Hyderabad and he is hopeful that one day he would be able to meet her directly. “Let me believe that miracles do happen and my Goddess Samantha will come to my house and bless me,” he says.
Mr. Sandeep has offered prayers at many famous temples for the healthy life of Samantha.
