Samantha is revealed by Keerthy Suresh. She was suggested to Atlee by Ruth Prabhu for Baby John: "I am incredibly grateful."

It's interesting to note that Samantha Ruth Prabhu portrayed the role of Keerthy Suresh in the Hindi version of Atlee's 2016 hit film Theri.

Last week, Keerthy Suresh made her Bollywood debut opposite Varun Dhawan as the lead female character in Kalees' action movie Baby John. Keerthy disclosed in an interview with Galatta India that Samantha Ruth Prabhu, her co-star in Mahanati, suggested her for the part.

Keerthy's words
It's interesting to note that Samantha portrayed Keerthy in Baby John, a Hindi version of Atlee's 2016 hit film Theri. Varun also told me that she most likely had me in mind when this was going on. I am so very thankful for that. She's quite kind to say, "Keerthy will be able to pull this off."

"After seeing the Baby John trailer, I recall her sharing a story on Instagram with the caption, 'I wouldn't have shared this one with anyone else, but you.'" It meant a lot to me and was really sweet. My debut couldn't have been better. One of my favorite roles is this one, and I'm delighted I was able to portray it in Hindi," she continued. In Nag Ashwin's 2018 Telugu historical drama Mahanati, Keerthy and Samantha costarred on screen together, and the former took home the National Award for Best Actress.

Samantha's encouragement of Varun

It's interesting to note that Samantha and Varun most recently collaborated on Raj & DK's spy series Citadel: Honey Bunny, which is available on Prime Video India. 

Samantha is convinced of both Citadel: Honey Bunny and Baby John, in my opinion. It happened after we had discussed it. I owe Samantha a huge debt of gratitude for that. She made me feel quite confident that I'm headed in the correct direction. It's very important," Varun replied. Samantha said, "It's my manifestation for Varun," after accepting the credit. This year seems to be Varun's year.

Rajpal Yadav, Wamiqa Gabbi, and Jackie Shroff are also featured in Baby John.