Shruti Haasan to headline international film ‘Chennai Story’

Directed by Philip John, ‘Chennai Story’ is a coming-of-age romantic comedy set against the backdrop of India and Wales

Shruti Haasan

Actor Shruti Haasan will headline the cross-cultural romantic comedy Chennai Story.

Written and directed by BAFTA winner Philip John, Chennai Story is an English film interspersed with Tamil and Welsh, exploring themes of ‘love, self-expression, and acceptance’.

Adapted from Timeri N. Murari’s book ‘The Arrangements of Love,’ the film is a coming-of-age romantic comedy set against the backdrop of Wales and India, where Haasan plays a spunky private detective named Anu.

She will star in the film alongside British actor Viveik Kalra (Blinded by the Light, Lift).

Chennai Story is backed by the British Film Institute’s (BFI) UK Global Screen Fund. The film, with backers in India, UK and Wales, aims to be made under the bilateral UK-India Co-production Treaty.

“Hailing from Chennai, a story showing the diversity and uniqueness of Chennai is so special to me — collaborating with Phil is something I’m so excited to experience, telling global and rooted stories through international collaboration is what making cinema is all about,” Haasan said in a statement. “I’m all up for Sunitha Tati’s vision of taking a culturally rooted story to an international audience through Chennai Story.”