A simple question from her nine-year-old son Hans led Sameera Reddy to make a comeback after a 12-year hiatus. The actor, last seen in the Kannada film Varadhanayaka (2013), is returning to the screen with the supernatural thriller, Chimney.

“My son’s school friends began telling him that I used to be an actor. He didn’t really know that side of me. So, a year ago, he came to me and asked, ‘How come you stopped acting?’ When I told him that I did so because I wanted to be with my family, he said that I should pursue acting again. It was cute for a nine-year-old to tell his mum, ‘Don’t worry. I will take care of my sister [Nyra],’” she smiles.

Reddy is popular on social media thanks to her content about parenting, body positivity, as well as her funny sketches. The actor believes she has been her most creative self in the past few years — an opinion she shares about the Hindi film industry too. Reddy, who forayed into Bollywood in 2002 with Maine Dil Tujhko Diya, says she’d have more options to experiment had she debuted today.

“Now, there is so much space for the unknowns who come and do a hatke film. They are the game-changers. If I were to come in as a youngster today, I wouldn’t choose the safe route, say a KJo [Karan Johar] film. I would take the unique, eccentric films. I always played that safe bet — either sexy or sweet roles. The in-between was not working [during my time].”