Mumbai: The Hindi film industry’s casting pool is increasingly opening up to talent from across India’s regional film industries, and Rukmini Maitr could be the latest actor to make that transition on a much bigger canvas. The Bengali actor has now joined Akshay Kumar in Samuk, the upcoming sci-fi action thriller directed by Kanishk Varma and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah under Sunshine Pictures.
For Maitr, the project marks another step into Hindi cinema after her 2021 debut Sanak, in which she starred opposite Vidyut Jammwal. While she has built the bulk of her career in Bengali cinema, her filmography has consistently seen her move across genres, from action and thrillers to comedy and period drama.
Her recent work is particularly indicative of that range. In Binodiini – Ekti Natir Upakhyan, Maitr took on the challenging role of theatre legend Binodini Dasi, while in Boomerang, she played a dual role in a sci-fi comedy, including an andro-humanoid character. She has also appeared in films such as Byomkesh O Durgo Rahasya, Kishmish, Password, Kabir and Chaamp.
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Sep 5, 2026Maitr herself has previously spoken about not wanting to be restricted by language or typecasting. “I am interested in films, not just in Hindi, but in any language if the content is strong,” she said in a 2025 interview, while also stressing that she has consciously chosen roles that make her characters indispensable to the story.
That makes Samuk an interesting next move. Rather than being a conventional Hindi-film outing, the project places her in a large-scale sci-fi action world headlined by Akshay Kumar. The film is being mounted as an alien survival-action thriller, with the makers keeping individual character details under wraps.
A source close to the project says, “Rukmini has already demonstrated that she doesn't want to be limited by language or genre. Samuk gives her an opportunity to take that versatility into a different kind of Hindi film and work within a large-scale cinematic world. Her casting is interesting because she comes with a strong body of work in Bengali cinema but has already had a Hindi-film outing. The idea is not simply to cast a regional face, but to bring together actors who can add something distinctive to the world of Samuk.”
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Sep 5, 2026The casting also comes at a crucial juncture in Maitr's career. After nearly a decade in Bengali cinema, she has increasingly been balancing work between Kolkata and Mumbai. In the same 2025 interview, she made it clear that Bengali cinema remains important to her even as she explores opportunities beyond the industry.
With Samuk, therefore, the question may not simply be whether Rukmini Maitr can cross over. She already has. The more interesting question is whether this next opportunity can take that crossover to a much larger national audience and potentially establish her as one of the next big crossover stars from regional cinema.
