Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Actor-musician Shruti Haasan started her career as an actor in 2009 with the Hindi film Luck, which tanked at the box office but in 2011, Shruti made her Tamil and Telugu debut with AR Murugadoss’ 7aum Arivu, starring Suriya, and Anaganaga O Dheerudu, starring Siddharth. While her Tamil film brought her some appreciation, her Telugu film flopped. Not just that, her next Telugu film, Oh My Friend, also starring Siddharth, also flopped. In a new interview, Shruti said that people in the Telugu industry, were quick to label her as “unlucky” as two of her films flopped. She said that they didn’t realise that both these films starred the same hero but his presence wasn’t stigmatised.
Opening up about what went through her mind during those tumultuous times, Shruti, in an interview to Filmfare, said, “If filmmakers believe in you, it translates creatively too. They believe you can pull something off, and it becomes collaborative.” She added, “There was a myth in Telugu that I was unlucky because my first two films didn’t work, but they didn’t connect the dots that both the films starred the same hero.” She said things changed for her when director Harish Shankar and actor-politician Pawan Kalyan believed in her.
“Both of them fought to have me in the film, Gabbar Singh, and then, my whole career changed. After that, Hindi cinema started looking up, and so did Tamil cinema,” said Shruti, who also spoke about how she might not be doing a lot of films in her career, but it doesn’t mean she isn’t passionate about cinema.
“People need to understand timelines. There is no point comparing one actor’s career trajectory with another, and the same holds good for filmmakers’ career paths too. Creativity and pacing is an individual choice, right?” said the Salaar actor, who also shared that responses to her debut film made her understand that she needs to understand the path she was going to embark upon in cinema.
“I had a smashing disaster for a debut. In fact, I was really lucky that I got a chance. Honestly, I wasn’t planning to continue acting after the first film. I thought I’ll just do the film, earn enough money, move out of the industry, and get back to my music career. It was such an impractical thought, right?” said Shruti, who revealed that the most honest comment about her debut performance came from her friend. “He said, ‘Machan, that was terrible… You either do it properly or not do it’.”
Realising his response was the wakeup call she needed, Shruti said, “I felt really ashamed of having wasted the opportunity that many want to get in their journey. Of course, I was passionate about cinema, but I wasn’t probably as passionate about acting. After the jolt, I decided I had to get good at it, and become a success.”
On the acting front, Shruti, who was last seen in Prashanth Neel-Prabhas’ Salaar, has an impressive lineup of films, including Rajinikanth-Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Coolie, which is set to hit the screens on August 14, and Vijay Sethupathi-Mysskin’s Train.
Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.
