Shruti Haasan

Early life

Haasan was born to actors Kamal Haasan and Sarika Thakur in Chennai. Her father is a Iyer while her mother Sarika was born to a Maharashtrian father and Rajput mother. Her younger sister Akshara Haasan is also an actress and represented India nationally for Ballroom Latin dancing. Actor and lawyer Charuhasan is her uncle. Her cousins are actresses Anu Hasan and Suhasini Maniratnam. Haasan studied at Lady Andal Venkatasubba Rao school in Chennai and moved to Mumbai to study psychology at St. Andrew's College.

Haasan focused on cinema and music, and eventually traveled to the USA to continue to learn music at the Musicians Institute in California, before returning to Chennai.

2009–2011: Debut and early career

Haasan's first appearance in a feature film was a cameo role 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 actual acting debut in 2008 with a film opposite Madhavan directed by Nishikanth Kamat. Despite Madhavan admitting that the news "was premature", she eventually did sign up to the film, which was titled Endrendrum Punnagai, only to be stalled prior to production.

Haasan eventually signed up to feature in Soham Shah's Hindi film Luck opposite Imran Khan in July 2008, and shot for the film for nearly a year. 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. 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. 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". 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 perhaps"synthetic and fails to impress". Haasan then went on to appear alongside 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.

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. 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". The film however became a commercial failure at the box office, and the film failed to capitalize on a hefty promotional campaign that 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. 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"; however the film went on to become a commercial success at the box office.

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. The director signed after he felt she looked the part of the scientist, mentioning that she seemed "intelligent and beautiful". 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. 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". 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 that went on in their adulthood as well and for the role Shruti Haasan went on to learn the dance of Kuchipudi. 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." Shruti Haasan has recently been honored with life membership of International Film And Television Club of Asian Academy of Film & Television by Sandeep Marwah.

2012 – present: Success and recent work

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," 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 played by Sonakshi Sinha in the original version. The film went on to become a major commercial success at the box office and brought in more film offers for Haasan. 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."

In 2013, she appeared in the Telugu action film Balupu opposite Ravi Teja, which eventually became a "super hit" at the Indian box office. Haasan mainly received positive reviews for her performance, with critics noting that she "provides the fun in the film with glamor and verve". Later that year, Haasan made a comeback to Hindi films, with Prabhu Deva's Ramaiya Vastavaiya and Nikhil Advani's D-Day. The films emerged as moderate successes and Haasan received generally positive reviews for her performances.

Her first release of 2014, the Telugu film Yevadu opposite Ram Charan Teja, emerged as a major commercial success. Her second Telugu release of the year, Race Gurram, had Haasan star opposite Allu Arjun for the first time in her career. The film was released on 11 April 2014, and eventually emerged as a "blockbuster" success. Along with the rest of the film, Haasan received positive reviews for her performance, with one critic noting that she "plays her part well and looks glamorous". Haasan also had a Tamil release Poojai opposite Vishal and performed her first item number in her career in the Telugu action comedy film Aagadu featuring Mahesh Babu and Tamannaah in the lead roles.

Haasan performed her second item number in Hindi film Tevar featuring Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha. Next she had two HIndi releases Gabbar is Back opposite Akshay Kumar, and Anees Bazmee's comedy Welcome Back opposite John Abraham, Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar. She completed filming for Tigmanshu Dhulia's drama Yaara opposite Devshakti Swain, Amit Sadh and Irrfan Khan and Rocky Handsome opposite John Abraham. She also had two releases in Tamil namely Puli co-starring Vijay and Vedhalam opposite Ajith Kumar marking her first collaboration with the actor. She also a had one Telugu release Srimanthudu starring opposite Mahesh Babu.

In early September 2015 she started working in S3 with Suriya for the second time. and in mid November 2015 she signed another Telugu film Premam opposite Naga Chaitanya. In Feb 2017, she was signed for Sangamithra which is to be directed by Sundar. C. She is playing a warrior and for that she is undergoing training for sword fight in London.After promoting the film at Cannes, she opted out of the film.

Singing

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. 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."

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. 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. Whilst Kushner composed the track, Shruti wrote the lyrics, sang and appeared in a promotional video for the film. She recently lent her voice for a Telugu film Aagadu which was confirmed by director Srinu Vytla via Twitter .

Music composing

After much speculation, Shruti Haasan was finalized as the music composer of the Tamil film Unnaipol Oruvan, which was released in 2009. The bilingual was a remake of the 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.

Brand endorsements

Shruti Haasan was signed as a brand ambassador for electrical appliances company Lloyd. She also endorses Emami Navratna cool talc.