Samantha Akkineni on Irumbu Thirai: Didn't have faith in new directors, Mithran's conviction changed my perception

Samantha Akkineni is thrilled with the blockbuster success of Rangasthalam. The talented actress also has two back to back films releasing this week in Tamil and Telugu. Despite the busy shooting schedule of U-Turn, Samantha interacted with the media in Chennai to talk about Irumbu Thirai and Nadigaiyar Thilagam (Tamil dubbed version of Mahanati), which are scheduled to hit the screens on 11 May.

The discussion actually begins with the hairdo that she sports in U-Turn. Samantha says she plays a contemporary journalist in the film and wanted to look different, so she opted for this hairstyle. The actress denied the rumour about becoming a producer with the film. “U-Turn is being produced by a newcomer, so everyone thinks that I’m bankrolling the film, which is not true”, says Samantha. She also reveals that U-Turn will be wrapped up by the end of this month. In U-Turn, Samantha plays a young journalist who is bold enough to talk to her mom about the choices she made in her life. Samantha also plays a journalist named Madhuravani in Mahanati but it’s different when compared to her character in U-Turn. “I play a Brahmin girl from ’80s in Mahanati. Though we say that there is no freedom for women, I witnessed the difference from the ’80s to now through the two characters in Mahanati and U-Turn. Madhuravani had to fight with her parents to go to work and she is the only woman at her workplace. Her parents always talk about marriage but now, girls at least have time until their late 20s to concentrate on their career”, says Samantha. Samantha says she’s got more performance oriented roles in Telugu as compared to Tamil. “Films like Eega, Manam and Rangasthalam offered me the scope to perform, but I hope things will also change in Tamil after U-Turn”, says Samantha, who loved her character in Rangasthalam and considers it to be a beautiful portrayal of an independent woman. “Usually if directors want a heroine to showcase as an independent girl, they would make her work in a software company but in Rangasthalam, the director portrayed me as a strong girl, without any education, and how she looks after her family with great care. Her beauty is in her strength, not face”, exclaims the actress on her characterisation in Rangasthalam. In Irumbu Thirai, Samantha plays an army psychologist named Rathi Devi. “In my career, I have never had faith in a new director but Mithran’s conviction changed my perception. His narration was thoroughly impressive. Though Irumbu Thirai is a commercial film, the situations are realistic and convince the audience with logic. As I said, I haven’t worked much with newcomers but I am happy that I made the decision of joining hands with Mithran in Irumbu Thirai”, she says. Samantha says her characterisation in Irumbu Thirai is cool and composed. “I play a calm, composed and matured character. In all commercial films, heroines are portrayed as bubbly and cute but in Irumbu Thirai, I only acted like any other normal girl would in real life”. Samantha was also stunned by Mithran’s research work in Irumbu Thirai. “When he told us about the unknown cyber crime scams, we were stunned and I was skeptical to touch even my own mobile phone. I recently watched the testimony of Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Information theft and stealing personal data are really scary. People think that they own everything but nothing is ours. If we discuss a travel plan with friends, suddenly an SMS on cheap flights and cheap hotels pops up which means that they (commercial organisations) are fully aware our information. Irumbu Thirai would be an important film for this age and the current generation can be aware of how cybercriminals are intruding in their lives. But all these kinds of stuff are told in a commercial way and it won’t be preachy”, says the actress who is not a big fan of preachy message-oriented films”. “Personally, I don’t like preachy films. We have enough problems in our daily life and you go to movie theater, to forget personal worries and enjoy the film”, adds Samantha. Besides Irumbu Thirai, Mahanati and U-Turn, Samantha also has a rural village entertainer Seema Raja and National Award-winning director Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s Super Deluxe. “Seema Raja is a Sivakarthikeyan-Ponram film with comedy interspersed throughout the film. I have finished shooting for the film whereas my character in Super Deluxe will be completely different, there is no reference for my role in the film”, says Samantha who wants to change the myth that a married actresses can’t be successful. “To break the myth, I have to constantly churn out hits like Rangasthalam and continue to sign more meaningful roles”, signed off the actress.