Shruti Haasan

Shruti Haasan (born 28 January 1986) is an Indian actress and singer who works in Telugu, Hindi and Tamil films.

She is the recipient of various accolades, including two Filmfare Award South and three South Indian International Movie Awards.

Haasan was born on 28 January 1986 to actors Kamal Haasan and Sarika Thakur in Madras (present-day Chennai) in a Tamil family.

Her father is a Tamilian Brahmin Iyengar, while her mother has Marathi and Rajput ancestry.

Her parents got married when she was one and got divorced in 2004.

Haasan's younger sister Akshara Haasan, is also an actress.

Actor and lawyer Charuhasan is her uncle.

Actresses Suhasini Maniratnam and Anu Hasan are her cousins.

Haasan completed her schooling from Lady Andal school in Chennai and moved to Mumbai to obtain a degree in psychology at St. Andrew's College.

Haasan focused on cinema and music, and eventually traveled to the US to continue to learn music at the Musicians Institute in California, before returning to Chennai.

Haasan's first appearance in a feature film was as a child artist in a cameo role as the daughter of Vallabhbhai Patel in the Tamil-Hindi bilingual Hey Ram, based on a murder attempt on 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 Nishikant Kamat.

Entitled Endrendrum Punnagai, the film was stalled before production began.

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.

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.

She took part in action scenes during filming and worked out extensively.

She made her acting debut as an adult with the Hindi film Luck (2009).

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 alongside 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.

In mid-2010, Haasan was signed by AR Murugadoss to star opposite Suriya in his next film 7aum Arivu, and the film's shooting 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".

She 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.

She made her Telugu debut with Anaganaga O Dheerudu and Tamil debut with 7aum Arivu both (2011), winning the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South for both.

Haasan established herself in South Indian cinema with the Telugu films Oh My Friend (2011), Gabbar Singh (2012), Balupu (2013), Yevadu, Race Gurram both (2014), Srimanthudu (2015), Premam (2016), Krack (2021) and Waltair Veerayya (2023).

She won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for Race Gurram.

Haasan 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 her play a gypsy with magic healing powers defended by a swordsman, played by Siddharth.

The film opened to positive reviews, with her performance being praised, with a critic of Sify 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".

Her second Hindi feature film, Madhur Bhandarkar's romantic comedy Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji, saw her appear in an extended guest appearance alongside Emraan Hashmi.

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.

Her performance gained poor responses from critics, with a reviewer citing that her character has been "reduced to post-interval surfacing, last-ditch glamour", while 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.

For her performance in D-Day (2013), she received a nomination for the IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Her highest-grossing release came with the Telugu film Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire (2023).

In addition to her acting career, Haasan is also an established playback singer and has her own music band.

She is a prominent celebrity endorser for brands and products.

Haasan has appeared in Forbes India Celebrity 100 list of 2015 and 2016.

Born to actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan and actress Sarika Thakur, she worked briefly as a child artist.

Haasan has also played the leading lady in the Tamil films, Vedalam (2015) and Si3 (2017), and the Hindi films Gabbar Is Back and Welcome Back (both 2015).