Saying no to Bollywood rules

She made her debut with a Hindi film and went on to do several South Indian movies but actor Shruti Haasan says she does not play by the rules of Bollywood.

Imran Khan starrer ‘Luck’ marked her first big screen appearance in 2009.  The movie did not do well at the box office.

The actor then went on to win critical acclaim for her role in the 2011 Telugu film ‘Anaganaga O Dheerudu’ followed by her Tamil debut, ‘7aum Arivu’, in the same year.

“I made my debut in Hindi but it took that turn, for whatever reasons. It really wasn’t planned. Whenever I’ve worked here, I’ve enjoyed it. But it (Bollywood) is a different mindset, a different set of rules. I’ve never played by those rules,” Shruti said.

Post her Bollywood debut, the 30-year-old actor did more Hindi films like ‘Ramaiya Vastavaiya’, ‘D Day’ and ‘Gabbar Is Back’ but says she has predominantly focused more on South Indian films.

When asked if Bollywood directors haven’t tapped her full potential yet, Shruti says, “I do feel that but I also think you can’t say ‘it’s because of this or that’. I think predominantly I’ve focused more on the South than Bollywood. I’ll be honest about it.”

“But in Hindi films, be it ‘D Day’ or ‘Welcome Back’, there is nothing in common. Even in the South, my trajectory has been like that because I am a person who needs change. If it’s something interesting, something which I’ve never done, I’ll do it.”

Shruti explains that to do more Bollywood films one has to spend a lot of time in Mumbai. “Mumbai is also the kind of place where it is important to spend time. Which I never do; at any place, at any point. If you go to South they’re like ‘but you are always in Mumbai’. “When I go to Hyderabad they’re like ‘You are always in Chennai’.

I always wanted to be Pan-India and these are the fall backs of being one.”