Actress Samantha Akkineni who made her digital debut with season 2 of The Family Man, has been receiving great reviews for her portrayal of Raji, a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel. The portrayal of the role included many stunt sequences, and Samantha took to Instagram on Monday to reveal how she performed all of them on her own.
Giving a shout out to her stunt coordinator Yannick Ben, she wrote: “A special, special thank you to my person Yannick Ben for training me to do all of my own stunts (yes all of them)... For pushing me to give it my all even when every part of my body ached (thanks for the pain killers by the way).”
She added: "I have a solid fear of heights but I jumped off that building only because I knew you had my back. Lots and lots of love."
In an earlier Instagram post, she said she was particular about playing her character Raji with a "balanced, nuanced and sensitive" approach. In a lengthy Instagram post, the actor charted her journey with Raji, a character which she said said serves as a much-needed reminder to come together as a society to eradicate "hate, oppression and greed".
"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," the actor wrote.
Samantha, 34, said her preparation for Raji involved watching documentaries about the Tamil struggle and she was devastated to see the suffering of Tamils of Eelam, especially women.
"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," the actor wrote.
She added the ghost of the war still haunts those "who continue to live in faraway lands with the wounds of the civil strife still fresh in their hearts and minds."
