Two women. One throne. Zero chance of a truce. Netflix has dropped the trailer of Akka, and it puts Keerthy Suresh and Radhika Apte in a face-off that looks every bit as tense as promised. The series, produced by YRF Entertainment and written and directed by Dharmaraj Shetty, arrives on Netflix on October 30.
The story unfolds in the kingdom of Pernuru, a world run by powerful houses where women lead from the front. Loyalty has held the place together for generations. Then an outsider arrives to challenge the legacy that has ruled it for so long. Old wounds reopen. Rivalries deepen. The balance starts to crack.
At the centre are Bhavani, played by Keerthy, and Rudra, played by Radhika. Both are formidable. Both want very different things. And that clash of ambition and belief is what powers the series, which digs into power, loyalty, family and revenge. The ensemble also features Tanvi Azmi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Anshuman Pushkar and Monica Panwar.
Keerthy says Bhavani is not a woman who backs down. “Bhavani is a woman who knows what she stands for and will go to great lengths to protect her legacy. What makes her interesting is that beneath her strength and authority are choices that are never easy, especially when the stakes are so high.”
Radhika sees Rudra as someone who refuses to be boxed in. “Rudra is someone who refuses to be defined by the circumstances she finds herself in. She is fierce, has her own ambitions, and is willing to challenge the established order, which makes her a fascinating character to explore.”
Director Dharmaraj Shetty wanted to do something fresh with the gangster genre. “What drew me to Akka was the chance to give the gangster genre a world with its own rules, and to tell a large, entertaining saga through characters and relationships we don’t often see at its centre.”
Tanya Bami, Series Head, Netflix India, added, “With Akka, audiences will enter the fictional world of Pernuru where women are not just part of the story, they are the power centre.”
Akka is the latest Netflix and YRF collaboration, following The Romantics, The Railway Men, Maharaj and Mandala Murders. As the line goes, “Gaddi pe baithne wale ko kehte hai ‘Akka!’” Who gets to sit on it will be revealed on October 30.
