Suganth M (BOMBAY TIMES; April 30, 2019)

After a gap of two years, Shruti Haasan is back in the South film industry, and has begun working on a film. She will also be seen sharing screen space with Vidyut Jammwal in Mahesh Manjrekar’s film Power. In this interview, which was done before reports of her break-up with Michael Corsale began doing the rounds, the actress talks about her ‘break’ from films and why she did not campaign for her father, Kamal Haasan. Excerpts:

Was it a conscious decision to stay away?
It was, in a way, but to be honest, it was not meant to be a break. The actual hiatus from films was only for less than three months. And that was to recoup and restructure myself. Before that, I’d taken a break only for Christmas and New Year, and that was after seven years! I was truly a workaholic.

My dad used to warn me that I’d burn out both emotionally and artistically, if I kept at it. But when you are young, you don’t listen to your parents, and I, too, was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, OK Pa’, but I did kind of hit that wall. And then, I started from scratch in a completely new country and a new industry. I’m very particular about the vibe of the people I work with, especially when it comes to music. In films, you can’t control that as much in the sense that there would be 500 people in a crew. In music, it’s just a few people inside a closed room working together for hours at end. So, it was very important that the management and the people I was working with are really in tune with what I want to achieve, and so that took over a year... to make the right contact, start writing a whole Extended Play (with five kinds of music), which I was writing and composing as well. I’ve been very lucky to work with some incredible talents in the UK. As much as we think that we know how a place is because we have seen it on TV and films or read about it in books, we actually don’t. It took me some adjusting. That’s why I’d say I wasn’t on a break; it was a lot of work though it doesn’t look that obvious.

We see the family of stars, who are in politics, campaigning for them on the ground. But we did not see you do that during this election. Is it something that your father did not want you to do?
No, there wasn’t even a discussion on this. It’s very simple. He has his vision and it is his political and social ambition. His is not a political move. He wants to see social change. I have seen that inclination even at home, and I’m extremely proud of that. I’ve taken all my values from him. So, for me, him getting into politics is not out of the blue. He has really been conscientious. Also, if you see the people he has in his party, they are all really from different walks of life — they are well educated and aware of the situation. And every one of them cares about making a social change. I, too, want social change, but I don’t have the knowledge, the experience or the articulation. So, I’m not a positive contributing factor. If I am not able to bring anything to the table — be it in music, movies or politics — I won’t offer my services. Waving my hand and saying, ‘Vote for my dad’ is not the right way to support him. And I think we have had enough of that. I definitely don’t want to join that bandwagon. Having said that, ever since dad joined politics, I’ve been reading up a lot on it. I have been following it a lot more because I want to understand his world. And it is a different world. I try to support him in any way a daughter can.

Do you discuss politics at home?
Like I said, I don’t have the knowledge, so right now, I am just listening and watching.

Now that the voting is over, are you nervous about the results?
I don’t think dad and I are that type. My dad’s philosophy is that he works really hard at everything, and waits for the result calmly because once your work is done, you can’t go back and change things. I think the result will be positive, I hope it is. I know that his intentions are genuine and people have connected to that.