South Indian star Samantha Akkineni refuses to be drawn into any controversy over her name

South Indian actress Samantha Akkineni, who stirred controversy when she dropped her last name on her social media handles, is in no mood to explain herself.

Actor Naga Chaitanya’s wife dropped her husband’s name from her social media handles and that led to several social media users asking her intrusive questions about trouble brewing in her marriage. Her profile name reads Samantha Ruth Prabhu, her name before marrying Chaitanya.

“The thing is, even with trolling for ‘The Family Man’ or this, I don’t react to them. That is how I have always been. I don’t react to this kind of noise and I don’t intend on doing so as well,” said Akkineni in an interview to Film Companion. The actress was criticised for her extremist role in the terrorism thriller web series. Akkineni’s character in the series was seen fighting for an independent state for Ethnic Tamils, a spillover of the 1983 conflict which stemmed in Sri Lanka where government forces and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) clashed. Calls for boycott of the actress followed.

In the same interview with Film Companion, she claimed that at least 65,000 tweets bombarding her about the reason behind her name change.

“Everybody wanted me to react to ‘The Family Man’ issue. There were like 65,000 tweets hammering me. I just thought no. I will speak when I have to speak and when I feel like saying something. I will not be bulldozed into saying something,” she added