Samantha Akkineni: I Want Raji's Story to Be a Reminder for Us to Fight Hate, Oppression, Greed

Hours after the premiere of The Family Man 2 on Amazon Prime Video, actress Samantha Akkineni shared a heartfelt post on her Instagram account, describing how her character Raji on the show will always be “special" for her. The new season sees Manoj Bajpayee’s Srikant Tiwari pitted against a new, powerful and brutal adversary named Raji, essayed by Samantha, who makes her digital debut with the web series. Sharing a photo of herself and creators Raj and DK, Samantha wrote, “Reading all the reviews and comments fills my heart with so much joy .. RAJI will always be special."

Samantha also mentioned that her character “Raji’s story, though fictional, to me, is a tribute to those that died because of an unequal war." Samantha further elaborated on the suffering of Eelam Tamils and the research that went into playing Raji in The Family Man Season 2.“When @rajanddk approached me to do the character, I was aware that portraying Raji’s character required sensitivity and balance. The creative team shared documentaries of the Tamil struggle that included stories of women in the Eelam war. When I watched those documentaries, I was aghast and shocked by the troubles and unspeakable grief that the Tamils of Eelam went through over an extended period of time. I noticed that the aforementioned documentaries had only a few thousand views and that is when it dawned on me how the world just looked away when tens of thousands of people of Eelam lost their lives. And, lakhs more lost their livelihood and their homes. *Countless many* continue to live in far away lands with the wounds of the civil strife still fresh in their hearts and minds."

Samantha concluded her post by saying that she wants Raji’s story to be “a stark, much-needed reminder for us, more than ever before, to come together as humans to fight hate, oppression, and greed."

Apart from Manoj Bajpayee, Sharad Kelkar, Priyamani, Dalip Tahil, Darshan Kumaar, Shahab Ali, and Sharib Hashmi reprise their roles in the show.

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