| Shruti Haasan | |
|---|---|
Shruti Hassan at Videocon Mobikes Mobile Application Launch |
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| Born | Shruti Rajalakshmi Haasan January 28, 1986 Chennai, India |
| Occupation | Actress, Singer, Model, Music composer |
| Years active | 1992; 1997; 2000–present |
Shruti Haasan (Tamil: ஸ்ருதி ஹாசன், Sruti Hācaṉ ?) is an Indian actress, singer and music composer who has worked in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films. Her parents are noted actors, Kamal Haasan and Sarika.[1] As a child artiste, she sang in films and appeared in a guest role, before making her adult acting debut in the 2009 action drama, Luck. She later went on to win critical acclaim for her role in the Walt Disney fantasy film, Anaganaga O Dheerudu, Oh My Friend and 7aum Arivu alongside Suriya.
She has also continued her stint in music through work as a singer in regional Indian languages, a career in music direction beginning with her father's production Unnaipol Oruvan and her own music band and album.
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Shruti Rajalakshmi Haasan was born to actors Kamal Hassan and Sarika in Chennai, India.[2] Her younger sister Akshara represents India nationally for Ballroom Latin dancing.[3] Haasan studied at Abacus in Chennai and moved to Mumbai to study psychology at St. Andrew’s College.[4]
Haasan shifted her focus to cinema and music, and eventually travelled to the USA to continue to learn music at the Musicians Institute in California, before returning to Chennai.[5] She has also had rhinoplasty to alter the appearance of her nose early in her film career.[6]
Shruti Haasan sang her first song aged just six in her father's Thevar Magan in the composition of Ilaiyaraaja. While in school, Haasan made her singing debut in the Hindi language film, Chachi 420, singing a duet with her father who also directed the film.[7] Shruti sang the bilingual versions of the title theme, Rama Rama with her father, in Hindi and in Tamil for the movie Hey Ram. The album from Ilayaraaja, which was critically praised, won Haasan accolades for her efforts with Screen India saying that she "has the makings of a good singer, and with some training she should go great guns".[8]
Shruti sang along with veteran singer K. J. Yesudas for the film En Mana Vaanil (2002) under Ilaiyaraaja's music. She has sung for Gautham Menon's Vaaranam Aayiram under the composition of Harris Jayaraj. As of November 2008, Haasan is also midway through her untitled debut album, which she has composed, written and sung, and is set for release in mid-2009.[9] A further song was recorded with her voice for her Hindi film, Luck.
In September 2010, Haasan collaborated with Dave Kushner for the film, Hisss.[10][11] Whilst Kushner composed the track, Shruti wrote the lyrics, sang and appeared in a promotional video for the film.[12]
After pursuing a career in singing Shruti also entered into modelling. She appeared in the Frappe! magazine of September 2007 and in Verve.
In 2000, Haasan made a cameo appearance as the daughter of Vallabhai Patel in the biopic of Mahatma Gandhi, in the Tamil-Hindi bilingual Hey Ram, directed by her father Kamal Haasan. After rejecting prominent film offers, most notably the lead role in Venkat Prabhu's Saroja, reports suggested in late 2007 that Haasan was set to make her full debut as a heroine in 2008 with a movie opposite Madhavan directed by Nishikanth Kamat.[13] Despite Madhavan admitting that the news "was premature",[14] she signed up to the film, which was titled, Endrendrum Punnagai,[15] only to be stalled prior to production.[16] Eventually Haasan signed up to Soham Shah's Luck opposite Imran Khan, a Bollywood film. However, despite the film gathering much publicity prior to release, it became a critical and commercial flop. She made her Telugu debut in January 2011, acting opposite Siddharth in the fantasy adventure film Anaganaga O Dheerudu directed by Prakash Kovelamudi son of director K. Raghavendra Rao. The film, co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures, proved commercially unsuccessful as well.[17][18] In mid 2010, Shruti was signed by A. R. Murugadoss to star opposite Surya Sivakumar in his next film 7aam Arivu, and the film's shoot began in June later that year.[19] Shruti played Subha Srinivasan, a young scientist in the film, who hopes to re-activate the genes of 5th century Buddhist monk Bodhidharma and her performance in the film won appreciation from critics. The film was a hit in the box office.
She has also given her voice to an HIV/AIDS education animated software tutorial created by the nonprofit organization TeachAIDS.[20]
After much speculation, Shruti Haasan was finalized as the music composer of the Tamil film Unnaipol Oruvan which released in 2009.[21] The bilingual was a remake of the successful Hindi film, A Wednesday!. The soundtracks of both the projects are separate. Apart from this, Shruti is also the vocalist of an alternative rock band The Extramentals.
| Movie Soundtrack |
|---|
Unnaipol Oruvan
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| Title | Release | Album | Composer |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Potri Paadadi Ponne" | 1992 | Thevar Magan | Ilaiyaraaja |
| "Jaago Gori" | 1997 | Chachi 420 | Vishal Bharadwaj |
| "Ram Ram" | 2000 | Hey Ram | Ilaiyaraaja |
| "Roattorap Paattuch Chaththam" | 2002 | En Mana Vaanil | Ilaiyaraaja |
| "Adiye Kolluthe" | 2008 | Vaaranam Aayiram | Harris Jayaraj |
| "Aazma (Luck Is The Key)" | 2009 | Luck | Salim-Sulaiman |
| "Allah Jaane" | Unnaipol Oruvan | Shruti Haasan | |
| "Unnaipol Oruvan" | |||
| "Vaanam Ellai" | |||
| "Semmozhiyaana Thamizh Mozhiyaam" | 2010 | — | A. R. Rahman |
| "Nenapidu Nenapidu" | Prithvi | Manikanth Kadri | |
| "Beyond The Snake" | Hisss | Dave Kushner | |
| "Evan Ivan" | 2011 | Udhayan | Manikanth Kadri |
| "Yellae Lama" | 7aum Arivu | Harris Jayaraj | |
| "Sri Chaitanya Junior College" | Oh My Friend | R. Anil | |
| "Sokkupodi" | Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal | G. V. Prakash Kumar | |
| "Kannazhaga" | 3 | Anirudh Ravichander |
| Year | Movie | Role | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Hey Ram | Shruti Patel | Tamil Hindi |
Cameo appearance |
| 2009 | Luck | Ayesha Kumar, Natasha Kumar |
Hindi | |
| Unnaipol Oruvan | Herself | Tamil | Special appearance in promotional video | |
| 2010 | Hisss | Herself | English | Special appearance in promotional video |
| 2011 | Anaganaga O Dheerudu | Priya | Telugu | |
| Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji | Nikki Narang | Hindi | ||
| 7aum Arivu | Subha Srinivasan | Tamil | ||
| Oh My Friend | Siri Chandana | Telugu | ||
| 2012 | 3 | Janani | Tamil | Filming |
| Gabbar Singh | Telugu | Filming |