Why Are Netizens Outraging Against Family Man 2 Actor Samantha Akkineni? What You Should Know

Samantha Akkineni Family Man 2: Immense internet outrage built against actor Samantha Akkineni on Wednesday ahead of the release of OTT series Family Man 2, in which she stars alongside Manoj Bajpayee. The Amazon Prime series has, since the trailer launch, been mired in controversy for presenting the Tamil community in a "highly objectionable manner."

Family Man is a hit suspense-black comedy series centred around Srikant Tiwari (Bajpayee), a common man secretly working for a top intelligence agency. The first season premiered in 2019. The highly anticipated second season will premiere online on June 4.

Family Man 2 is set to be Akkineni's OTT debut. She plays the role of Raji, a militant Tamil fighting for an independent state. In what is the Telugu actor's first grey role, she and the show's creators Raj and DK were slammed for allegedly categorising Tamils and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organisation as terrorists.

Samantha Akkineni Family Man 2 Sees Resurgence In Backlash Ahead Of Release

After the outrage led to the Tamil Nadu government demanding a ban on the show's second season, the directors called for calm and defended their production, saying they had "nothing but the utmost love and respect for our Tamil people." Bajpayee, Akkineni and others from the crew shared the statement as well.

What #TheFamilyMan2 directors’ @rajndk had to say about the current issue in their latest interview with Times of India. pic.twitter.com/d69IXeqSay

— LetsOTT GLOBAL (@LetsOTT) May 24, 2021

As quoted in reports, Akkineni has sought to clarify that her character is not an antagonist. "It’s just that maybe she has a different point of view compared to Srikant. But that does not necessarily mean she is bad. It is just that she has a different faith and a different set of beliefs," she said.

A section of media users, however, aren't satisfied with her role and are strongly against the portrayal of Eelam Tamils. They trended 'Shame on Samantha' June 2. Read some reactions here:

This will be the end of your Tamil cinema career.
you grown because of Tamil people.

now you are going to show them as Terrorists for money.

Thank less Samantha ..@Samanthaprabhu2#ShameonYouSamantha#Familyman2_against_tamil#familyman2_against_srilankantamil pic.twitter.com/JgGl27Sg4r

— yuvan arun sk (@YuvanSk) June 2, 2021

சமந்தாவிற்கு தமிழ் மக்கள் தான் அங்கீகாரம் கொடுத்தது.,நன்றி மறந்து மோசமாக பேசி உள்ளார் எம் இனத்தை தீவிரவாதிகள் terrorist என்று நாகூசாமல் பேசி உள்ளார். கண்டனங்கள்!#FamilyMan2_against_Tamils #ShameonYouSamantha @Samanthaprabhu2 #BanFamilyMan2#prabhakaranism pic.twitter.com/gaJJJVBro4

— Prasanna (@Prasanna__offl) June 2, 2021

Dude it's just a web series, you know, India's main problem is offence, people get offended at literally anything, also if you have eyes then you must have seen there is a warning before every series or picture which says that this is there for just entertainment , so shut up

— Sanidhya Goel (@SanidhyaGoel5) June 2, 2021