Shruti Rajalakshmi Haasan
(born 28 January 1986) is an Indian film actress, singer and musician known for
her works in Tamil cinema, Telugu cinema and Bollywood. She was born to veteran
actor Kamal Haasan and Sarika.
As a child artist, she sang
in films and appeared in a guest role in her father's Hey Ram (2000), before
making her adult acting debut in the 2009 Bollywood action drama, Luck. She
later went on to win critical acclaim for her role in the Walt Disney fantasy
film in Telugu, Anaganaga O Dheerudu, Oh My Friend and 7th Sense. In 2012, she
starred in Gabbar Singh, a Telugu remake of Bollywood Dabangg, which also was
her first major commercial success as an actress.
After several successful
films like Balupu, Yevadu and Race Gurram, she established herself as one of
the leading contemporary actress in the Telugu cinema. Apart from achieving
success in the Telugu film industry, Haasan is also regarded as one of the most
promising contemporary actresses of Hindi cinema, with her being signed on to
act in several high profile projects like Gabbar is Back(Released on 1st May,
2015 ) and Welcome Back, which are currently under production. In a recent poll
conducted by Chennai Times Shruti topped the list of most desirable women. 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.
Born Shruti Haasan 28 January 1986 (age 29) Chennai, Tamil Nadu,
India
Ethnicity Indian
Occupation Actress, singer, model, dancer,
musician
Years active 2000–present
Religion Hinduism
Parent(s) Kamal Haasan
Sarika Thakur
Relatives Akshara Haasan (sister)
Charuhasan (uncle)
Chandrahasan (uncle)
Anu Hasan (cousin)
Suhasini Maniratnam(cousin)
Gauthami (step mother)
Early life
Shruti Haasan was born on 28
January 1986 to actors Kamal Haasan and Sarika Thakur in Chennai, India before
their marriage in 1988. Her father is a Tamil Brahmin while her mother is half
Marathi and half Rajput. Her younger sister Akshara represents India nationally
for Ballroom Latin dancing. Haasan studied at Abacus Montessori 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.
Career
2009–11: 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 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.
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 capitulate 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."
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".
Upcoming projects
As of December 2014, Haasan
has completed work on the Hindi language action drama Main Gabbar opposite
Akshay Kumar, and is currently shooting for three other Hindi language films,
Anees Bazmee's comedy Welcome Back opposite John Abraham, Anil Kapoor and Nana
Patekar, Tigmanshu Dhulia's drama Yaara opposite Devshakti Swain, Amit Sadh and
Irrfan Khan, and Rocky Handsome, opposite John Abraham. Haasan is also
currently shooting for Poojai, a Tamil action masala film opposite Vishal, and
the Telugu action comedy film Aagadu opposite Mahesh Babu and Tamannaah, in
which she appears in a special song.She has Signed for the high budget Tamil
production Fantasy film directed by Chimbudevan co-starring actor Vijay in the
lead role along with Hansika Motwani.
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