Samantha even struggled to get clothes; was asked 'Who are you?'

Actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu recalled how she and her colleagues down south were disrespected in the past over clothes.

In an interview, the 35-year-old actress spoke about how far regional films have come in recent years, with movies in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada outrunning Hindi cinema at the box-office.

Samantha said: "It's absolutely wonderful. There were times when we south actors couldn't source garments from designers because they were like, 'Who are you? South actor? What south?'"

Samantha, whose upcoming film 'Shaakuntalam' has over 3,000 costumes for the actors, supporting cast and junior artistes, made by designer Neeta Lulla: "We've come a long way from there, haven't we? This inclusivity is quite amazing, and we're now finally where we should be."

Over the last two years, films such as 'RRR', 'KGF' franchise, 'Pushpa: The Rise' and 'Kantara', among many others gave a Hindi cinema a run for their money at the box-office.