Shruti Haasan: There have been ebbs and flows in women characters and their onscreen portrayal
Shruti Haasan: There have been ebbs and flows in women characters and their onscreen portrayal
Actor Shruti Haasan is currently busy juggling three big-ticket projects – Salaar, Chiru 154 and NBK 107. And despite a chock-o-block schedule that continues till December this year, she is leaving no stone unturned to indulge in her first love – music. A self-confessed multitasker, she believes that women are born to don multiple hats and wear them with aplomb. Amid a rather busy day, Firstpost catches up with Haasan, as she talks about the changing landscape for women in cinema, dealing with personal questions pertaining to marriage, working on alternative music and more.
Excerpts from the interview:
In your upcoming films, you’ll be sharing screen space with actors like Prabhas, Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna. How do you not want to be overshadowed and leave your own impact on the audience?
In the same way, as we do in everyday life as women. We resonate with our own feminine frequency and energy, which is very powerful.
Is the label of a ‘south Indian actor’ creatively limiting?
No, it’s not. I’m very proud of being a south Indian. I’ve done the majority of my films in the south, and so, I’m happy to be called a south Indian. The label has no ramifications. My general concern in life is that I don’t want to be boxed into any category.
You had once said that the characters written in Hindi cinema didn’t align with your sensibilities…
My mum (actor Sarika) did all kinds of films but there has always been a void for women, be it in Hollywood or Indian cinema. There have been ebbs and flows and dips and spikes as far as women characters and their portrayal are concerned. But now, overall, I do feel that there’s a change in the way modern women are represented, and I feel it’s really interesting. These characters are layered and rightly so because we also belong to a part of an overlapping Venn diagram. Women, particularly, aren’t just black or white. We’re really gifted and we can multitask and we also live in the grey. It’s interesting that makers are adding tonality to women’s narrative rather than relegating them to just ‘women characters’.
But does a woman’s fight for a seat at the table when it comes to the movies still continue?
We all are still fighting, in general. But I don’t look at issues like pay gaps as something I need to fight about. I try to take them as opportunities and make the best out of them.
You recently spoke about being diagnosed with PCOS. How do you think it helps when we’ve a public figure talking about these so-called taboo topics?
I was diagnosed with PCOS long back. The fact that talking about it is considered to be an issue makes me feel weird. We live in a country where sanitary pads are sold in brown paper bags. It’s really important to remove shame from period health, uterine health and mental health. I can only speak of the things that I go through. It’s not like I’m deliberately trying to be a voice. I just speak about my own life and experiences. If someone can relate to that and some good comes out of it, it makes me feel very happy.
You’re constantly asked questions about your personal life including marriage. How much do you let them get to you?
I’ve been asked about marriage for a long time now. But of late, a lot of my contemporaries or the actors who started out with me or even the ones younger than me have [gotten married], and maybe that’s why I’m being asked this question very frequently. I’ve always been nervous about the idea of marriage but I never say never. If I feel like getting married, I will. But I’ve never understood why there’s such a huge curiosity about other people’s marriages and children. I think it’s really funny. I also found it funny when people talked about my parents and their relationship. But I don’t take these things to heart.
You had said that this year, you would want to focus more on your music. Is there something in the pipeline?
Yes, a lot of music is waiting to come out. It’s a difficult schedule to maintain where you’re on set constantly. But I do my best. I did move away from music for a while but it’s a huge part of my calling as an artiste and a human being. I don’t look at music as just something else that I do; it’s a very defining part of me. And while this year is about time management, you’ll get to see me doing live concerts too next year.
Are you open to composing music in your films too?
I’ve composed early on in my career in the remakes of A Wednesday (2008). I enjoyed it but it’s extremely time-consuming. It’s very different when you write for yourself, and I really enjoy it when I do so. Composing for films isn’t something I would jump into instantly but I would maybe sing for myself. When it comes to music, I’ve been a little bit selective of late because I realise that my music is alternative, and I’m very proud of it.
Thirteen years into showbiz, what do you strive for today?
There are so many layers to me in terms of how I approach life and cinema and what I want to be as a woman. What I’ve understood is that small steps add up to the giant leap we take, spiritually and artistically. I’m learning to enjoy every moment today. We all tend to get stuck in the rut of ‘what I’m going to do next’ and ‘how things are going to pan out’. The most liberating thing I’ve done for myself is truly enjoy the fact that I get to live the life of an artiste every day.
Titas Chowdhury is a journalist based in Mumbai with a keen interest in films and beaches.
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