Age is just a number: Shruti Haasan

Shruti Haasan turned 32 on Sunday, and she is not fretting over her age. The actress finds the number concept "silly".

"Age is just a number. I have always wondered why, be it any artiste anywhere in the world like Tom Cruise, there will be a bracket and then their age will be there, or it will read so and so 23-year-old. I have always wondered why do people do that," Shruti told IANS over the phone from Los Angeles.

"It is really odd because the number concept, beyond a point for me, is really silly," she added.

As for her 32nd birthday celebration, the daughter of stars Kamal Haasan and Sarika, says there is no big party planned.

"I am in LA and I am going for dinner with all my friends from here, so I am really excited about it. About having a warm cosy evening with my friends," she said.

Looking back at all those growing up years, Shruti, who sings and acts in films in multiple languages like Hindi and Tamil, said: "It has been wonderful. I have always been big on birthdays. My parents have been so wonderful to me during my birthdays, my sister, my friends everyone. So, there are fond memories.

"There are so many fond memories that I can't pick one."

Shruti had a shaky start to her career, with films such as "Luck", "Anaganaga O Dheerudu" and "7am Arivu" failing to elicit expected response. But Pawan Kalyan's Telugu film "Gabbar Singh", a remake of "Dabangg", changed the game for Shruti and got her into the big league.

The actress says she has learnt a lot over all these years, with the art of remaining patient, being the most important thing.

"It has really been about patience. I have learnt a lot of patience and still I am not that patient which I like to be. But yes, it has been better than it was before... I have learnt to be more empathetic."

Shruti wants to continue on the same path of growing and learning.

"The challenge is to make something new in the path of growing and maintaining balance."

After the release of "Behen Hogi Teri" and "Katamarayudu" last year, Shruti decided to take a step back to re-assess her career. The actress says the process turned out to be a "great neutraliser".

"I have never done it before. It was (all about) learning as I go, and by God's grace, once you get successful, then doing this and that and next thing and next thing... I felt like I really wanted to take a step back and I really wanted to balance music in my life as well. I felt I needed a neutralising experience.

"It is difficult to change your point of view when you are in the same situation constantly. I took a step away and went to London which was a completely new environment, new me and there was no baggage of the past. There were no expectations and I met some lovely artistes. For me, it was a great neutraliser and a great re-assessing when I wanted."

On the work front, the actress says there will be announcements soon, and promised she will "do lots of music this year".

(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)

--IANS

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