I got to know Rajini sir on my own terms: Shruti Haasan

CHENNAI: Dressed in a red co-ord set, Shruti brought in winter festive spirits as she waved to a huge crowd gathered at the Phoenix Marketcity. The carols set off, as she lights the tree, Chennai rings in Christmas early. Having spent a fair amount of time in London and the US, the musician-actor says that the Christmases she spent in her childhood brings her smiles every time she thinks about it. “My mum was from Mumbai and Christmases there are pretty famous in the country. Chennai had a different way of celebrating it. My mum took it all upon herself to set up a tree at home. Me and my cousins slept under the tree, opened the presents on Christmas mornings. She knew that I wouldn’t miss Deepavalis and Pongals in Chennai, so she ensured that we experienced Christmas to the fullest. It ended up being the biggest celebration, growing up,” she opens up.

As she sees the shoppers at Phoenix, coming in huge numbers, Shruti says that Chennai has started opening up to Christmas shopping as well apart from Deepavali. “The energy that gifting brings is different. And for Christmas, you can always mix and match and also it is fun. Also, shopping for Christmas is less stressful when compared to Deepavali,” she says with a smile.

Having said that, Shruti gets reminded that it will be a working Christmas for her. “This year on December 25, I will be working on the sets of Coolie,” says the actor. This will be her first collaboration with Rajinikanth and her second with Lokesh Kanagaraj after the song Inimel, which released earlier this year. “Lokesh’s vision for Coolie is amazing. In fact, I approached him for Inimel because I believed that he could be a good actor and look good in front of the camera when I met him on the sets of Vikram. He said of course we will talk about it later and pitched Coolie to me. Though the waiting was long, I was relieved when Coolie came through as I have been a fan of his and the way he worked with appa,” she adds.

We all know that Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan share a great bond and are like a family. “Of course, we knew Rajini sir and the camaraderie appa and him share. Honestly, I grew up more around Sathyaraj sir and Prabhu sir. The fun part is, I got to know Rajini sir on my own terms on the sets of Coolie. There is so much to learn from him and it has been wonderful to work with him,” Shruti remarks.