Rajini sir is very collaborative, says Shruti Haasan

I'm really excited for people to watch us live again. I think they can expect a lot of heavy guitars, a lot of singing, a lot of fun and a lot of energy and a mix of my original English compositions and some other surprises. It's always fun for me to perform live.

How does it feel to be performing live again, and what's been your preparation process for this gig?

It's really where I thrive. It's what I enjoy the most. Preparation for gigs is just switching mindsets of course and getting into that musical mode, getting into rehearsal mode, getting into the joy of arranging music and collaborating with my fellow musicians who are all extremely talented.

So yeah, it's just a lot of fun and I love being on stage. I think balancing acting and music is really more about time management because films take up a different kind of time and music takes up a different kind of time. Now in the terms of mindset on a movie, when I go on as an actor, there's the crew and the technicians doing a lot of the execution and we just go do our part, you know, and collaborate as much as we can. Whereas when I'm going in as a musician, I've written most of the music, co-arranged most of it. So that's a different execution process and mindset. There's more heavy lifting there.
And yeah, films take up a longer amount of time, say through the year or through months. Music gigs and rehearsals are like shorter spans of time, but they're very intensive. So yeah, it's just about mindset and time management.

What was your experience like working with Rajinikanth and what did you learn from the project?

It was really lovely working with Rajini sir. I definitely learned a lot about why he is the star he is while watching him work, like his discipline with work, his approach to his character, everything was just really fun to watch. But really, I learned a lot from him as a person. And by that, I mean, his attitude on set, it's so positive. He's extremely collaborative. He's very, very humble. But he's also very energetic. He brings such a positive energy onto the set. So I learned a lot about how to deal with people from Rajini sir and that's a lesson I take away.

Although you can't reveal details about your character or the story, can you share any memorable moments or challenges you faced during the shoot?

Yeah, I can't reveal much about the character, but I do know that she's extremely simple. She's also complex, but it's a character that I think a lot of people can relate to. And I'm really glad Lokesh gave me that part. I think the challenges during shoot, there weren't many challenges. It was just, I think the challenge was more for the director and the direction team, because there were just so many actors and so many layers to the story. So it was really them. For us, as actors, I think it was so smooth sailing working with Lokesh as a director. He's extremely clear about his vision and he's really a dream to work with as a director.

I've been part of different kinds of projects my entire career, projects like Coolie, which are like massive, huge productions. Also been part of films that are indie like The Eye, which was shot in 27 days on a different kind of budget. But I have to say there isn't really a difference for me. When I walk on a set, it doesn't matter the budget of the film or the scale of the film or how many other actors.My approach to what I have to deliver has always been the same, which is show up, do your best, keep your ears open, keep your mind open and collaborate and be disciplined at your work.