Shruti Haasan: I am aware that my surname carries a weight and it opened the doors for me – bollywood

Actor-singer Shruti Haasan is ecstatic at the kind of music journey she has been able to forge for herself. And this one, she says, has solely been on the basis of her hard work. But considering the illustrious family she comes from — her father is the legendary Kamal Haasan, and mother Sarika — has she at any point felt that she needs to emulate a certain kind of career or live up to the name?

She says ‘no’, it wasn’t there in her head. “I always had my music, which is like my own thing and separate. I didn’t feel that in my first film, I didn’t even know what I was doing in it. I started feeling it later on. I felt it the most when I went to London and started my music there as an absolute nobody. ‘Oh, you have so many millions of followers on social media, lovely! Now sing and tell us what you can actually do’. It was starting from scratch, and when I got judged positively, for me, that’s when I realised I’ve never experienced that in my entire life,” exclaims Shruti.

The 34-year-old says that because of the environment she grew up in, she was always aware of her parents’ popularity.

“Of being two people’s daughter, there was no avoiding it. It was always so and so’s daughter. At the age of 30, to go to London, you also see what you can do. It was really humbling and gave me a lot of confidence,” says Shruti , who’s set to release an original track called Edge. 

She started her Hindi film career with Luck in 2009, and over the years dabbled with films in Telugu and Tamil too, apart from music. Going by her experience, is the entertainment industry a fair place where people get equal opportunities?

“I don’t know how one can even judge that. I am aware of the topics of discussion going on now. I am aware that my surname carries a weight and it opened the doors, no question about that,” says Haasan.

Carving her own niche is what the singer-actor really wanted, which is why she calls her music journey different.

“I want to have an authentic journey, with credibility, which is not about using the name I have made in India. Labels would be happy and say ‘let’s work with her, she brings so many followers’, as today, data is power. But for me, it’s been a very authentic journey. I started in smaller clubs, to more prestigious venues, and to be called back to perform, that means a lot to me,” she concludes.

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