Shruti Haasan (born 28 January 1986) is an Indian actress and singer who predominantly works in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. One of the highest paid actresses in South Indian cinema, Haasan is the recipient of various accolades, including two Filmfare Awards South and seven SIIMA Awards. She 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. She made her acting debut as an adult with the Hindi film Luck (2009). In 2011, she made her Telugu debut with Anaganaga O Dheerudu and Tamil debut with 7 Aum Arivu, winning the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South for both these films. Following a career breakthrough with the Tamil film 3 (2012), Haasan established herself as a leading South Indian actress with the successful Telugu films Gabbar Singh (2012), Balupu (2013), Yevadu (2014), Race Gurram (2014), Srimanthudu (2015), Premam (2016), Krack (2021) and Waltair Veerayya (2023), earning the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for Race Gurram.
Haasan has also played the leading lady in commercial successes—the Tamil films, Vedalam (2015) and Si3 (2017), and the Hindi films Gabbar Is Back (2015) and Welcome Back (2015). For her performance in D-Day (2013), she received a nomination for the IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her highest-grossing releases came with the Telugu film Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire (2023) and the Tamil film Coolie (2025).
In addition to her acting career, Haasan is also an established singer and has her own music band.
Early life and family
Haasan was born on 28 January 1986 to actors Kamal Haasan and Sarika Thakur in Madras (now Chennai) into a Tamil family. Her father is a Tamilian Brahmin Iyengar, while her mother has Marathi and Rajput ancestry. Her parents married when she was one year old 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 at 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, eventually traveling to the United States to study at the Musicians Institute in California, before returning to Chennai."Trading Licks At The School of Rock: Musicians Institute Is Noisy And Counts Prof. Van Halen Among Its Visiting Lecturers. School's Mission is to Help Students Make Careers in Music," by Josh Meyer, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 1990
Acting career Debut and early career (2000; 2009–2011) 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.
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. 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 further made an appearance in a promotional music video for the horror film Hisss, starring Mallika Sherawat, where she had also sung a song composed by Dave Kushner.
Haasan made her Telugu debut in 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". It however became a box office average. 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.Tuteja, Joginder (3 February 2011) Team DTBHJ ecstatic with film's success Click here to add this article to My Clips. bollywoodhungama.com
In mid-2010, Haasan was signed by AR Murugadoss to star opposite Suriya in his next film 7 Aum 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. The film opened to mixed reviews, but became commercially successful. Malathi Rangarajan from The Hindu noted: "rarely is a heroine given near-equal footing in Tamil films", describing her as "ravishing but that she ought to work harder on spontaneity, and fine-tune her Tamil accent", but concluded "the point is the actor shows promise". Her next Telugu release was Oh My Friend, a romantic comedy film alongside Siddharth again, which also co-starred Hansika Motwani and Navdeep. The film told the story of childhood friends, and that of their platonic friendship that went on in their adulthood as well, and for the role Shruti Haasan went on to learn the dance of Kuchipudi. The film opened to average reviews, with several critics claiming the film evoked a sense of "déjà vu", though B. V. S. Prakash of Deccan Chronicle noted: "Shruti, on her part displays the same conviction." She won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South for Anaganaga O Dheerudu and 7 Aum Arivu and earned Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil nomination for the latter.
Breakthrough (2012–2013)
Aishwarya Rajinikanth's Tamil directorial debut 3, a romantic drama film co-starring Dhanush, marked a turning point in Haasan's career. Aishwarya revealed that she had written the script with Shruti in mind, but date problems meant that the film began its shoot with Amala Paul instead. However, in a turn of events, Shruti was re-signed to play the character of Janani, and the film gained much hype prior to release due to the collaboration of herself and Aishwarya, being the daughters of the two leading contemporary Tamil actors Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth, respectively, as did the success of the song "Why This Kolaveri Di?". The film opened in March 2012 to positive reviews, with Vishnupriya Bhandaram of The Hindu noting: "Shruti Hassan has come a long way", while L Romal M Singh of DNA India stated that the first half of the film belongs to her. The film only garnered average returns at the box office and she received her second Filmfare Best Actress – Tamil nomination. Her second release in 2012 was Harish Shankar's Telugu film Gabbar Singh, a remake of the 2010 Hindi film Dabangg, featuring her opposite Pawan Kalyan. She played the role of Bhagyalakshmi, a village girl. The film went on to become a major commercial success at the box office and brought in more film offers for Haasan. Critics gave her performance a favourable verdict citing that she "justifies her role" and "though she didn't have much of a role, she has left her mark." Haasan won her first SIIMA Award for Best Actress – Telugu.
With four releases in 2013, Haasan first appeared in the Telugu film Balupu opposite, Ravi Teja, which eventually became a "super-hit", at the box office. She received positive reviews for her performance, with a critic of Idlebrain stating that she "provides the fun in the film with glamor and verve".Balupu review – Telugu cinema – Ravi Teja, Shruti Haasan, Anjali, Lakshmi Rai, Prakash Raj, Brahmanandam & Ali . Idlebrain.com (28 June 2013). Retrieved 10 May 2015. Later that year, she starred in two Hindi films, Prabhu Deva's Ramaiya Vastavaiya and Nikkhil Advani's D-Day. For the former, she played a Punjabi girl Sona alongside Girish Kumar. In the latter, a spy thriller, she played Suraiya, a prostitute involved with a suspended army officer, Arjun Rampal. She also sang a song for the film, entitled "Alvida". Reviewing the film for Rediff.com, Palomi Sharma found Haasan to be "perfect as a Karachi prostitute with a haunting aura about her". In her final release that year, Haasan played a social worker Ammulu, opposite Jr. NTR, in Telugu film Ramayya Vasthavayya. The film received an average response from critics.
Commercial success and fluctuations (2014–2020) Haasan's first release of 2014, the Telugu film Yevadu, opposite Ram Charan, emerged as a major commercial success. She played a college student Manju in the film. Karthik Pasupulate stated, "Shruti looks pretty, but has little else to do." In her second Telugu release of the year, Race Gurram, Haasan star opposite Allu Arjun for the first time in her career and played Spandana, an emotionless girl. The film emerged as a "blockbuster" success, the highest-grossing film of the year. She received positive reviews for her performance, with a critic of Deccan Chronicle noting that she "plays her part well and looks glamorous". For her performance, Haasan earned the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu and her second SIIMA Best Actress – Telugu.Movie review 'Race Gurram': A total paisa vasool flick . Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 10 May 2015. She also had a Tamil release; Poojai, opposite Vishal, for which she also did costume designing and performed her first item number, in the Telugu film Aagadu, starring Mahesh Babu and Tamannaah.