India, June 26 -- W ith the success of Maa Inti Bangaaram and motherhood on the horizon, actor Samantha says she is stepping into her maternity break with a sense of fulfilment rather than urgency: "I am taking my maternity break on a professional high. It's time to soak it all in and I'll be back when I'm back. I want my return to be with something big." The actor, who is expecting her first child with filmmaker Raj Nidimoru, adds that she has no fixed timeline for returning to work. "I'm not putting that pressure on myself. I'm not running any race or pressed for time. I'll see how it goes." The success of her latest female-led commercial action entertainer has also brought her a newfound calm. "I hadn't had a theatrical release in three years, so there was naturally pressure. But now I feel much calmer. I've realised I don't need to keep delivering films back-to-back. Whenever I do release a film, I just want it to be worthwhile." Working with husband Raj, who served as the film's creator and stunt director, also helped her push herself as an action star. "He knows my strengths and weaknesses because he introduced me to action with The Family Man 2. The biggest challenge this time was handling guns and doing action in saris, which gave it a fresh flavour." One reaction, she admits, surprised her the most: "I assumed older women would talk about the family drama or comedy. Instead, women in saris came up to me saying they loved the action. That was a really special feeling." Despite the film finding audiences beyond Telugu-speaking regions, Samantha insists it was never conceived as a pan-India project. She says, "We wanted to make a good Telugu film first. It's rooted in Telugu nostalgia and history, so it didn't feel right to force it on a wider audience... Now that we know we've struck a chord, maybe the next project can be more ambitious and travel pan-India."...