The glitz and glamour of cinema can change a person, but not the multifaceted Shruti Haasan.
“I’ve been acting for eight years. When I look back, I realise cinema has made me stronger. Nothing else about me has changed despite growing up as the daughter of Kamal Haasan and Sarika. I’m still the same person for my friends and I still enjoy doing what I like,” Haasan said.
“It becomes your world when you see it as art,” she added.
Haasan had a shaky start to her career, with flops such as Luck, Anaganaga O Dheerudu and 7am Arivu.
But she doesn’t regret doing these films.
“In these films, I did the best I could and followed the instructions of my directors. An actor can’t be solely responsible for a film failing or succeeding. The fate of a film depends on so many other factors,” she said.
She also said she doesn’t look at failures like others do.
“What people see as a big failure, I don’t necessarily look at it the same way. I’m proud of films like Oh My Friend and 7am Arivu because they were special. Something about them stands out even today,” she said.
It was with Pawan Kalyan’s Telugu action film Gabbar Singh, a remake of Dabangg, that Haasan was catapulted to the big league.
“I’ll always be grateful to Pawan Kalyan for giving me an opportunity to be part of the project. A star of his calibre could have easily said no to me. But he was very supportive and I’ll never forget it,” she said, expressing joy in reuniting with him in upcoming Telugu film Katamarayudu.
“It will always be special to work with him,” Haasan added.
Basking in the success of SI3, the third part in the Singam franchise, Haasan feels proud to be part of the series.
“The reception has been wonderful. The success of the Singam franchise is proof of how much people have enjoyed the series,” she said.
While the film opened to mixed reviews, critics pointed out that Haasan didn’t have much to contribute.
“I have nothing to complain about my role. You can’t judge a role by its screen time or by the number of scenes. I was part of D-Day for just 11 minutes but people loved it. Sometimes even if you happen to be part of a film from the first to last frame, there’s no guarantee that people might like it,” she said.
Haasan wants to continue working across industries.
“I will try and do roles that interest me. I have no qualms of being part of commercial cinema because I believe there’s great reach in such films,” she said.
She is currently working on three films, including the big-budget Tamil historic drama Sanghamitra.
“My work takes me everywhere. The only thing about travelling that gets to me is packing and unpacking. Otherwise, I really love my job and I’m grateful that I’m this busy,” she added.
