It takes a while for Shruti Haasan to let down her guard. She's been part of high-profile projects, but her personal life has always been under scrutiny. Clichéd it may sound, but she'd rather not talk her link-ups. She wants her work to do all the talking. “I am working non-stop and enjoying it. I wouldn't have it any other way,” she quips, talking to MetroPlus while in the city for the audio launch of 3 . She talks about her character Janani at length. “I think I left a little bit of myself in that character for the audience to take back,” she says.
The film traces the journey of love between Dhanush and Shruti in three different stages — school, college and later. Before you draw parallels with When Harry Met Sally or 500 Days of Summer , she insists, “Watch the film without presumptions. I can't reveal much about the story but I can say this — Janani is one of the most demanding characters I have essayed. And 3 is much more than Kolaveri .” Shruti's rendition of Kannazhaga has topped the charts in Tamil. “I've sung the song in Telugu too and hope people like it,” she adds.
She's dubbed for 3 in Tamil and Hindi and hopes to be able to dub in Telugu soon. “I can understand Telugu and speak just enough to get by in the city. But my sentence construction is weak,” she laughs.
The toughest part of 3 was playing a school girl in a portion of the film. “Applying oil and plaiting my hair made me feel like a school girl. Both Dhanush and I didn't try too hard to play young. As a co-star, Dhanush was a great support and gave me peg points or routes along the map to understand my character better. I am not a trained actor and don't know what method acting is. I am learning on the job,” she says. Does she regret not going to a film school? “It's too late now. I am working round the clock. But thanks to my parents, I've had a good exposure to cinema,” she adds.
For the audience, the attention maybe on Kamal Haasan's daughter acting in Rajnikanth's daughter's film but for Shruti, it's a film like any other. “I didn't sign 3 because of Aishwarya and Dhanush. As always, I went by the script,” she maintains.
The Hindi version of 3 will see her in Bollywood after Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji . “I've done more gigs with my band in Mumbai than in the South. I am lucky to be in the industry at a time when people appreciate your work beyond regional barriers,” she says and smiles when pointed out that she is a trained singer unlike her dad, “I hold that as my trump card when we discuss music at home.”
