Shruti Haasan

Shruti Haasan
Haasan at unveiling of cover of Exhibit magazine in July 2012
Born	Shruti Rajalakshmi Haasan (1986-01-28) January 28, 1986 Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Ethnicity	East Indian
Occupation	Actress, Singer, Model, Music composer, Dancer
Years active	2000–present
Parents	Kamal Haasan Sarika Thakur
Relatives	Charuhasan (uncle) Chandrahasan (uncle) Anu Hasan (cousin) Suhasini Maniratnam (cousin)

Shruti Rajalakshmi Haasan (born 28 January 1986) is an Indian actress, singer and music composer who works in the South Indian film industry and Bollywood. Her parents are noted actors Kamal Haasan and Sarika.^[1]

As a child artist, 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 7aam Arivu. In 2012, she starred in Gabbar Singh, Telugu remake of Dabangg which also was her first major commercial success as an actress. She has also continued her stint in music through work as a singer in Indian languages, a career in music direction beginning with her father's production Unnaipol Oruvan and her own music band and album.

Early life

Shruti Haasan was born on 28 January 1986 to actors Kamal Haasan and Sarika Thakur in Chennai, India.^[2] Her younger sister Akshara represents India nationally for Ballroom Latin dancing.^[3] Shruthi studied at Abacus Montessori School in Chennai and moved to Mumbai to study psychology at St. Andrew’s College.^[4]

Shruti 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]

Career

Singing career

Shruti Hassan at a concert in early 2007

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.^[6] 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".^[7]

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.^[8] 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.^[9][10] Whilst Kushner composed the track, Shruti wrote the lyrics, sang and appeared in a promotional video for the film.^[11]

Acting career

Hasan made her acting debut making a cameo appearance as the daughter of Vallabhbhai Patel in the Tamil-Hindi bilingual Hey Ram, based on a murder attempt of Mahatma Gandhi, 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 film opposite Madhavan directed by Nishikanth Kamat.^[12] Despite Madhavan admitting that the news "was premature",^[13] she eventually did sign up to the film which was titled Endrendrum Punnagai,^[14] only to be stalled prior to production.^[15]

Eventually Haasan signed up to feature in Soham Shah's Hindi film Luck opposite Imran Khan in July 2008 and shot for the film for a close to a year.^[16] Imran Khan, her childhood friend, had recommended her name to the director and Haasan signed on after listening to the entire script and accepted to play a dual role in the action film.^[17] Shruti took part in action scenes during filming, while she also worked out to get a toned body for a sequence in which she appears in a bikini in the film.^[18] The film opened in July 2009 to unanimously poor reviews from critics and took a poor opening at the box office, with critics stating that she "deserved a better launch vehicle".^[19] Reviewers were critical of her performance with Rajeev Masand of IBN stating that she delivers "dialogues with deadpan expressions", while another critic added that she is "synthetic and fails to impress".^[20][21] Haasan then went on to appear alongiside Blaaze in the promotional videos for Unnaipol Oruvan and Eenadu, the bilingual films starring her father, which she had composed the music for. She made a further appearance in a promotional video for the horror film Hisss starring Mallika Sherawat, where she had also sung a song composed by Dave Kushner.^[22]

Shruti Haasan TeachAIDS Recording Session

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, saw Shruti play a gypsy woman whose life coincides with a task that a blind swordsman, played by Siddharth.^[23] The film opened to positive reviews, with her performance being praised with a critic noting "Shruti looks quite attractive and makes a wonderful screen presence", while a reviewer from Rediff.com wrote that she "looks beautiful and has a mystical aura about her".^[24][25] The film however became a commercial failure at the box office, and the film failed to capitulate on a hefty promotional campaign which had been undertaken. Her second Hindi feature film, Madhur Bhandarkar's romantic comedy Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji, saw her appear in an extended guest appearance alongside an ensemble cast of Emraan Hashmi, Ajay Devgn and Shazahn Padamsee. The film portrayed her as Nikki Narang, the step-daughter of an ex Miss India model, with Hashmi's character falling for both mother and daughter.^[26] Shruti's performance gained poor responses from critics with a reviewer citing that her character has been "reduced to post-interval surfacing, last-ditch glamour" whilst another labelled hers as "so fake that she offers only disappointment";^[27] however the film went on to become a commercial success at the box office.^[28] In mid-2010, Shruti was signed by A. R. Murugadoss to star opposite Suriya in his next film 7aum Arivu, and the film's shoot began in June later that year.^[29] The director signed after he felt she looked the part of the scientist, mentioning that she seemed "intelligent and beautiful".^[30] 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 opened to mixed reviews, but became commercially successful.^[31][32] A critic from The Hindu noted "rarely is a heroine given near-equal footing in Tamil films", describing her as "ravishing but that she ought to work harder on spontaneity, and fine-tune her Tamil accent", but concluded "the point is the actor shows promise."^[33] Her next Telugu release was Oh My Friend, a romantic comedy film alongside Siddharth again which also co-starred Hansika Motwani and Navdeep. The film told the story of childhood friends and that of their platonic friendship which goes on in their adulthood as well and for the role Shruti Haasan went on to learn the dance of Kuchipudi.^[34] The film opened to average reviews with several critics claiming the film evoked a sense of "déjà vu", though a reviewer noted "Shruti, on her part displays the same conviction."^[35]

Shruti Haasan was next seen in Aishwarya Dhanush's directorial debut 3, a romantic drama film co-starring Dhanush. Aishwarya revealed that she had written the script with Shruti Haasan in mind but date problems meant that the film began its shoot with Amala Paul instead. However in a turn of events, Shruti was re-signed to play the character of Janani, and the film gained much hype prior to release due to the collaboration of herself and Aishwarya, being the daughters of the two leading contemporary Tamil actors Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth as did the success of the song Why This Kolaveri Di?. The film opened in March 2012 to positive reviews with a critic noting "Shruti Hassan has come a long way",^[36] though the film only garnered average returns at the box office. Her second release in 2012 was Harish Shankar's Telugu film Gabbar Singh, a remake of the 2010 Hindi film Dabangg, with the version featuring her alongside Pawan Kalyan. Shruti had signed the film in November 2011 replacing Ileana D'Cruz who had opted out, and played the role of Bhagyalakshmi, a village girl, which had been essayed by Sonakshi Sinha in the original version. The film went on to become a large commercial success at the box office and created more film offers for the actress.^[37] Critics also gave her performance a favourable verdict citing that she "justifies her role" and "though she didn't have much of a role, she has left her mark".^[38][39] Her next release in Telugu is Balupu with Ravi Teja.,^[40] the movie, along with her performance was well received from critics and audience.

Shruti will be apart of upcoming Telugu movie Yevadu which has Ram Charan Teja in the lead. Her recent Hindi film releases were Prabhu Deva's Ramaiya Vastavaiya and Nikhil Advani's D-Day, both released on July 19.^[41] she was the cover model of the men's magazine maxim(India) for May 2013 edition. Ever since Shruthi Hassan broke up with her boyfriend Siddharth few years back, She has maintained always her relationship status as single.^[42] Shruthi Haasan is expected to act with Vishal in his upcoming movie, which will be directed by Hari. ^[43]

Music composing

After much speculation, Shruti Haasan was finalized as the music composer of the Tamil film Unnaipol Oruvan which released in 2009.^[44] 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.

Discography

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shruti Haasan.

• Official website
• Shruti Haasan at the Internet Movie Database