Once in a while, an artiste, if lucky, comes across a project that changes their trajectory. For Samantha, the second season of The Family Man was that project. In the eight months since the popular spy thriller dropped online, the actor has become a pan-India star. When we sit down for a chat with Samantha — who is nominated in the Best Actor (Female): Series category at the third season of the mid-day and Radio City Hitlist OTT Awards — we begin with how her life has changed post the success of the Amazon Prime Video series. “It certainly has opened many doors for me in Hindi cinema. There has been no dearth of interesting scripts from Bollywood. It’s a wonderful feeling to wake up every day, and be able to cherry-pick meaty roles on a pan-India level,” she beams.

The actor came on board to play Raji, a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel, even before the first edition of the Manoj Bajpayee-led series became successful. For a star, to dedicate a bulk of dates to one project can be viewed as a risky decision. Did she have second thoughts? “The debate that raged in my mind was over a different reason. I am a risk-taker, so I was interested in taking on this role. But I was scared and had an element of doubt initially because I wasn’t sure whether I could pull off this part. Raji was unlike anything I had attempted in the past. I’m glad that I was able to rise beyond my initial fear, and get into the skin of the character.”