Samantha Akkineni, Vidya Balan Bag Top Honours At Indian Film Festival Of Melbourne

Samantha Akkineni wins IFFM award: Samantha Akkineni won the ‘Best performance female’ (series) award for The Family Man season 2 at the Indian Film Festival Of Melbourne (IFFM) 2021 announced today on August 20. Manoj Bajpayee and Akkineni’s action-thriller show was released on June 4 with much fanfare and hype.

The actor took to her social media to thank the makers of the series, Raj & DK, for being able to see beyond the "cute girl" image that many couldn’t look past. As an actor, she said, "I dreamed of being given such an opportunity.. the chance to play a layered and intense role. #Raji forced me to dig deep .. and I am beyond happy today to receive a certificate of approval for the performance (sic)."

Thankyou so much for this award…this is truly truly special .. Thankyou @rajndk for all the faith and the support 🙏.. #Raji ♥️ https://t.co/Dji0ghdPfC

— S (@Samanthaprabhu2) August 20, 2021

Winners for the 12th edition of IFFM were announced virtually. This year’s festival had a line-up of feature and short films from across India, representing the theme of diversity through cinema.

Fans have been congratulating the actor as they believe she deserves the award thoroughly. Akkineni gave one of her career-best performances as Raji in The Family Man 2. Meanwhile, the Tamil film Soorarai Pottru directed by Sudha Kongara won the Best film and its lead actor Suriya took home the Best Performance Male awards. Vidya Balan won the Best Actress (film) for the much-liked Sherni, while Mirzapur was given the Best Series Award. Filmmaker Anurag Basu walked away with the Best Director trophy for the feature film Ludo. Manoj Bajpayee also won an award for his performance in season two of Family Man as well. Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen was felicitated.

Telugu star Akkineni was seen in a negative role, a trained commando of the Sri Lankan Tamil rebels, in The Family Man 2. She earned a lot of praise and fans had declared the show a masterpiece. Talking about her character in the narrative, she recently told Mid-Day, “In no scene did I look at my character as a bad guy." Akkineni claimed she was honest to her character's trauma and experiences. "She was committed to her cause, but was simply on the wrong side of history,” she added.

Akkineni is one of the leading actors in South Indian cinema. She is married to actor Naga Chaitanya, the son of actor Nagarjuna Akkineni. She recently wrapped up the shooting for her upcoming Telugu period drama Shakuntalam and is awaiting the release of Tamil romantic comedy Kaathu Vaakula Rendu Kadhal, which also stars Nayanthara and Vijay Sethupathi. More here.

Meanwhile, Akkineni has removed her name on social media handles, replacing it with a simple 'S'.

Feature Image Credit: News 18