I look up to my dad, he's super inspiring: Shruti

Shruti Haasan is on a roll with back to back releases. She will next be seen in Prabhas’s Salaar directed by Prashanth Neel. In an exclusive interview with Deccan Chronicle, she talks about her working with Prabhas and KGF director and also what she admires about her actor father, Kamal Haasan.

Are you excited about Salaar?

I'm super excited about Salaar. We've been making it for a while and I can't wait for people to see and experience the world that Prashant Neel has created.
 
How was it working with Prabhas?

It was wonderful working with Prabhas. He is really generous in his spirit to everyone on the set, and that's really sweet and a wonderful energy.

How do you describe Prashant Neel's working style?

Prashanth sir’s working style, he is very fluid and collaborative. but he's very sure of this world he's created and we have to fit in. But I thought he would be super strict and super dominating, but he's not. He's really relaxed and he's very easy to communicate with, but he's making these really big and definitive films. So it was really interesting to watch him work.

Any memorable incidents on the sets?

All of Salaar was really fun. So I can't pull out just one incident, it was a lot of fun. But I would say what I really liked is how Prashant would play cricket in the lunchbreak and sometimes they would let me play with them and it was always really fun to play cricket with all the boys between the shots.

What made you give your nod to the special song in Hi Nanna?
When I was approached for the song, I just thought it would be really fun to do something like that in a film like this. Then there was a little bit more, which of course got changed later on.

But I just thought it would be a fun song to collaborate with the team, with Shourya, producers and Nani. So that's why I did it.

You killed it in your original, Monster Machine. How did the song come about?

The song was like in my head for a long time as an idea is what I felt of how I wanted to express. But it came together really fast and we made a video based on everything Shantanu and I had discussed, and our director Dwarakesh was completely in tune with us. So it was really good from working with the producers in the studio to recording the song to finally putting it out.

As the daughter of a legendary actor, what qualities of your father have you imbibed as an actor?

I don't know what qualities I have imbibed of my father. But I do look up to him. I think he's super inspiring to a lot of people from a lot of generations. But I do think that he has one great quality which I try to apply in my life is no matter how tough things get, he'll always have a laugh and he'll always crack a joke. And I think if you know how to laugh at things, you kind of get through them better.

What’s your take on social media exposing too much of a celebrity’s life?

I mean, there is a positive and negative to everything. Social media has its positives and negatives. I share a lot because I feel I rather show my authentic self. Some people like it, some people don't. It's totally up to their personal prerogative.

What's your take on OTTs and are you game to give it a shot like your peers?

I would do OTT only if the characters are really interesting. I think it's a great platform, so if there's something interesting, I'll definitely do it.