THERE WAS HE-MAN, AND THEN THERE WAS MY DAD: SHRUTI HAASAN

Yashika Mathur (HINDUSTAN TIMES; June 16, 2024)

Shruti Haasan followed her father, Kamal Haasan’s footsteps and became an actor, but not many know that during her formative years, she was inclined towards taking up direction. In fact, she reveals that what fascinated her about a director’s job was an incident that also traces back to her father.

“I always thought that my dad was the ultimate. There was He-Man (animated superhero) and there was my dad. So, I’d be like, ‘Papa is so cool’. One day, I went to a set and I saw him listening to his director. And I was like ‘Who is this person who gets to make my dad act like he is in a classroom!’. And then I was like, ‘Wow, directing is such a cool job’. It was a very silly motivation in the beginning,” she tells us on Father's Day.

The 38-year-old is now juggling roles of an actor, musician and a producer, and one wonders if she wants to resurrect her direction dreams, and maybe one day helm a biopic on her superstar father.

“Oh god no! Definitely not!” she exclaims, and shares why she won’t be the right person for the job. “It would be extremely biased from my side if I were to ever make a film on dad’s life. Also, I think there are more well-equipped storytellers who’ll do justice to his story.”

In fact, celebrating her father’s glorious journey, Shruti recently paid tribute to him at the audio launch of his upcoming film Indian 2.

Stating that it was a “great experience” performing on stage to her father’s songs, Shruti tells us, “Papa has such a prolific, insane career, so, it was like trying to find different things in the ocean. It was amazing fun to take all of these songs, and put them in a newly-produced set, which was indicative of my style and how I play it with my band. For me, to infuse my music while honouring what dad’s music means to people was really exciting,” concludes the actor, who will next be seen in Dacoit and Salaar 2.