The Family Man 2 series, which was released recently on Amazon Prime Video, has received a lot of praise from fans and critics for actress Samantha Akkineni’s stellar performance as Raji, who plays the role of an extremist leader.
Created by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, The Family Man 2 has Manoj Bajpayee playing the character of TASC officer Shrikant Tiwari, while Samantha was seen playing the role of Sri Lankan Tamil liberation fighter Raji, who is on a suicide mission.
Talking about how her character required “sensitivity and balance,” Samantha thanked her fans for all the love she had received in an Instagram post on Friday. She attached a picture of herself with the creators and wrote, “Reading all the reviews and comments fills my heart with so much joy... RAJI will always be special. When Raj and DK 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.”
Take a look at her post here:
Explaining the struggles faced by the Eelam community, Samantha further said, “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 people of Eelam lost their lives. And, lakhs more lost their livelihood and their homes. *Countless many* continue to live in faraway lands with the wounds of the civil strife still fresh in their hearts and minds.”
Samantha also said her role as Raji was a tribute to those who continue to live with the “painful memory of the war.” She wrote, Raji’s story, though fictional, to me, is a tribute to those that died because of an unequal war, and those who continue to live in the painful memory of the war. I was particular about Raji’s portrayal being balanced, nuanced, and sensitive. I want 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. If we fail to do so, countless more will be denied their identity, liberty, and their right to self-determination.”
Samantha had earlier faced backlash from the Tamil community for allegedly potraying the Eelam comunity in a bad light. People had interpreted from the trailer that she was playing the role of a leader from the LTTE who was also a “terrorist” in the series, and said it was a misrepresentation of what the community had been formed for.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was a guerilla organisation that had sought a separate state in Sri Lanka for Tamil people due to the oppression and bloodshed that they constantly witnessed there.