Samantha Akkineni
Southern star Samantha Akkineni will be foraying into the digital medium with the second season of the much-awaited series, The Family Man. She says she has experimented with something new with her role, which will leave everyone surprised.
"OTT gives us an opportunity to break rules. I've broken a lot of rules with The Family Man 2, and really experimented with something extremely new," Samantha told IANS.
Samantha will be joining actor Manoj Bajpayee in the second season of the web series, The Family Man. The upcoming season will pit Srikant Tiwari (essayed by Manoj) against a new powerful and avenging adversary. It promises lots of exciting and action-filled moments while exploring relatable themes of home, belonging and estrangement.
The show also casts names like Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi, Darshan Kumar, Sharad Kelkar, Sunny Hinduja, Shreya Dhanwantary, Shahab Ali, Vedant Sinha and Mahek Thakur. It is created, directed and produced by Raj and DK.
"I am very happy with the product and with the output. It's going to be a good surprise for everyone who is used to seeing me do a particular type of role," she added.
The actress is happy with the growing world of OTT, and feels it opens up new opportunities for everyone.
"OTT has opened up a world of possibilities for every technician, actually. When it comes to feature films, as an actor you have to do a certain kind of role that it's widely and universally accepted. With OTT, one can really afford to take risks and experiment," said Samantha, who is married to Telugu superstar Nagarjuna's son, actor Naga Chaitanya.
The actress is known for her performances in films such as Ye Maaya Chesave, Neethaane En Ponvasantham, Eega, Mersal and Rangasthalam. She impressed all with her role in the OTT-released Tamil film Super Deluxe last year.
Asked how things have changed for women in the industry, she said: "It's been 10 years since I've been in the industry, and I feel things have drastically changed from the time I first came in."
"With OTT and exposure to world cinema, the options and opportunities for women are steadily increasing. We are not offered as cliched roles as we were before," said the actress, who joined stars like Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Manoj Bajpayee, Tisca Chopra and Divya Dutta to discuss the future of the industry through Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films Evening discussions, soon to be featured on the Zee network.
