Happy birthday Samantha Akkineni: 7 movies you must watch to celebrate her existence today

Tollywood actress Samantha Akkineni turned 34-year-old on April 28. She is celebrating her birthday this year with husband Naga Chaitanya and their pet doggo Hash.

The actress has an exciting year ahead, with her debut in the Hindi industry. She will be seen opposite Manoj Bajpayee in the second season of The Family Man.

Before her debut, here are her films in the Telugu cinema which are worth a watch. P.S.: She has even worked with her hubby on many films, which have become iconic.

Take a look...

Oh Baby!

Akkineni played the role of 24-year-old Swathi in Oh Baby! Her cute performance in the film was so endearing that people instantly connected to her character.

The film, directed by Nandini Reddy, is the story of a 70-year-old woman (Savitri) who was transformed into the 24-year-old. What follows is the hilarious ride called her life, where she is the age of her grandson.

Starring Rao Ramesh, Rajendra Prasad, Pragathi, Jagapathi Babu, Naga Shourya and Naga Chaitanya in pivotal roles, the movie was adapted from the Korean remake, Miss Granny.

Oh Baby! is currently streaming on Netflix in India.

Ye Maya Chesave

The first film that Samantha and Chaitanya collaborated on, happened to be a romantic-drama which went on to become iconic in the industry. The film was Ye Maya Chesave (translated as What Magic Have You Done?)

In the roles of Karthik and Jessie, they stole hearts. Sam even won the Best Female Debut award at the Filmfare Awards South.

AR Rahman also won the Best Music Director Award for his music in the movie.

Ye Maya Chesave, directed by Gautham Menon, was simultaneously shot in Tamil as Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa (Trisha-Simbu, who even made a debut in the original film). It was later adapted in Hindi as Ekk Deewana Tha (Prateik Babbar-Amy Jackson).

The movie can be viewed on Sony Liv.

Eega

Samantha was roped in as the lead actress in Eega. She came as a surprise package in the role of Bindu. It was because of this performance that she bagged the Best Telugu Actress Award at Filmfare Awards South.

The film is the story of Nani plotting revenge against Sudeep for murdering him. The actor reincarnates as ‘Eega’ and protects his lover Bindu from an obsessive Sudeep.

Directed by SS Rajamouli, the film starred Nani as the protagonist and Sudeep as the antagonist. Both the actors were also recognized for the movie, but Eega itself won two National Awards - for Best Feature Film in Telugu and Best Special Effects.

Eega can be streamed on Disney+Hotstar.

Rangasthalam

You know that Samantha has an important role in a film when a whole song (Rangamma Mangamma) is dedicated to her relationship with the lead actor Ram Charan.

The film revolves around partially-deaf and ill-tempered Chittibabu (Charan). It is his story about keeping his brother Kumar Babu (Aadhi Pinisetty)’s wish to fight for justice in the village alive. Samantha (Ramalakshmi) plays an important role since the fight for justice begins with her home. Meanwhile, she also manages to win over Chittibabu and become his wife.

Directed by Sukumar, Rangasthalam was a commercial success. The movie also starred Jagapathi Babu and Prakash Raj in pivotal roles.

Rangasthalam can also be viewed on Disney+Hotstar.

Irumbu Thirai

In Irumbuthirai, Samantha played the role of a psychiatrist Rathi Devi. She helped the lead protagonist Vishal (who plays Major R. Kathiravan in the film) deal with his anger and help get his job back.

The P.S. Mithran directorial became a blockbuster at the Box Office. Apart from Vishal and Samantha, the movie featured Delhi Ganesh, Darshana Rajendran, Robo Shankar, Sreeja Ravi and Arjun in pivotal roles.

The film can be viewed on Disney+Hotstar.

Majili

Majili reunited Samantha and Chaitanya as lovers on the big screen. It was the first movie they worked on together as a married couple.

Chaitanya played the role of Poorna, who lost the will to pursue his passion of joining the Indian cricket team after his lover Anshu (Divyanka Kaushik) fails to return to him.

Samantha, on the other hand, was seen as his neighbour Sravani, who has been in love with him. She married him, but he shuns her and embraces alcoholism. The actress won the Best Actor - Female Award at the Zee Cine Awards Telugu.

Directed by Shiva Nirvana, the movie was lauded by critics and audiences alike.

The film can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.

Super Deluxe

In Super Deluxe, Samantha played the role of an unhappy married woman Vaembu. This pushes her to go back to her ex-boyfriend. However, he dies during their intimate moment, leaving Vaembu and her husband Mugli (Fahadh Faasil) in a dilemma of hiding the corpse.

Samantha was as convincing in her role as the script from her segment in the anthology film. The actress even won Zee Cine Awards Tamil for Best Actress.

Helmed by Thiagarajan Kumararaja, Super Deluxe also stars Vijay Sethupathi, Ramya Krishnan, Mysskin and Gayathrie in pivotal roles. The film can be viewed on Netflix.