Samantha Akkineni In The Family Man S2: A Powerhouse Performance

Irrespective of how The Family Man season 2 has been viewed, the common thread has been the talented Samantha Akkineni's performance. Even those who haven't liked the show that much have praised her performance. In fact there are many who have said that she outshone Manoj Bajpayee.

Samantha has always been an actress with potential, examples being Rangasthalam and Super Deluxe. In Rangasthalam, she played the rustic Rama Lakshmi. It was a completely deglamourised part and challenging, particularly given the roles that Samantha had done before then. However, she rose up to the challenge and delivered a very good performance.

Super Deluxe was another interesting part as she played the role of an  adulteress. It is not a role that many star actresses would take on but Samantha once again showed her ability to pick unique parts. In spite of sharing screen space with Fahadh Faasil, she more than stood her own.

However as The Family Man has shown, those two films were just teasers. Samantha's Raji is someone who comes across as a quiet person and as someone who doesn't want to draw too much attention to herself. In fact she lets men grope her and touch her inappropriately. However, there is a suppressed rage that is visible, and that rage comes out in the brilliantly executed action scene. From a girl who is scared, she transforms into a killer within seconds.

In various interviews Samantha has said that she doesn't look at her character as a villain and it is quite clear why she said that when you finish watching the series. Raji is someone who has faced brutality not only at the hands of the Sri Lankan soldiers, but also at the hands of men and society at large. Therefore her anger is directed not just towards the government but also at patriarchy.

Samantha embodied all the shades of her character perfectly and delivered a terrific performance. She was also excellent in the action scenes. Through her character, director duo Raj and DK showed how a freedom fighter is a terrorist for a person who is on the other side of the fence. In this case it is Manoj Bajpayee's Srikant Tiwari.

Here's hoping that Samantha will continue to deliver very good performances and go from strength to strength.