Women rarely get to do action scenes in films ’cos of how we’re perceived in society: Shruti – Times of India

Having recently recovered from COVID-19, Shruti Haasan has gotten back to work and is currently working on Chiranjeevi’s next in Hyderabad. The actress has a slew of films lined up, including a film with Balakrishna and Prashanth Neel’s pan-India flick Salaar opposite Prabhas. Off-screen, she spends a lot of time training in mixed martial arts. However, Shruti says she hasn’t been able to showcase her martial arts skills on-screen as often as she’d like. Speaking to Hyderabad Times, the actress says, “Action is something that I enjoy, but it depends on how convincing it is in the story. I’m someone who firmly believes women can kick b**t better than anyone else, but I may be speaking from a place of privilege. In India, there are many women who may not be so privileged and can’t defend themselves. So as filmmakers, we have to be careful about how to approach this and how real it should feel. It’s always powerful to see a woman kick a** on-screen. However, it needs to blend into the story in a way that reflects reality.”

The actress made a splash with her action scenes in Ravi Teja’s Krack, in which she played the role of a cop. “In Krack, it made sense, ’cos the character is someone who’s expected to showcase her fighting skills. But otherwise, it’s hard to justify it. Women rarely get to do action on screen, and I don’t blame cinema for that because that’s just the reality of most women in our country. Even in the West, it took a long time before women got to do such roles. However, the power of cinema is that you get to imagine things that are one step beyond reality. So, hopefully, we’ll see a lot more action roles being written for women,” Shruti.

Known to speak her mind, Shruti says she doesn’t shy away from questioning things when she’s working in a film. However, she doesn’t like to think of herself as a ‘rebel’. “I’m more of a rebellious nerd to be honest,” she laughs, adding, “I’m this geeky person who likes to read and stay by herself, but I’m also rebellious in the sense that I like to question things. I want people to see things from my point of view as well. Eventually, as an artiste you want to share your point of view with the rest of the world. So I try to do that.”

The actress, who will soon be seen Prashanth Neel’s pan-India film with Prabhas, says she gets irked when people in the North mock people with South Indian heritage. I’m a really proud South Indian, when someone goes at me with “idli, dosa, sambar” I really go at them with a machete, intellectual machete so to speak (laughs). When people in the North feign ignorance about the culture in the South, it is nothing but micro-aggression. We’ve taken it for a long time and we still do. But I won’t tolerate it,” she says, adding, “But having said that, from my experience of working in Hindi cinema, nobody’s looked down on South Indian actors. In fact, They’ve always been genuinely respectful of the way we work and the success of our industries. I’m really glad we’re in the space that we are today, where talents from different industries are coming under one umbrella. It’s a great thing for Indian cinema.”