Lakshmy pampered me like mother on sets: Sruthi Hariharan

"Lucia" fame Sruthi Hariharan, who is making her Tamil debut with upcoming road drama "Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe", says the film's director Lakshmy Ramakrishnan pampered her like a mother.

"Working with Lakshmy has been wonderful. She's like a mother on sets. I've never been pampered so much by my director on any of film sets before. I think that just comes very easily to her (Lakshmy)," Shruti told IANS.

"I've known her from a young age but we didn't keep in touch in between for many years. After seeing my work in 'Lucia', she felt I should work with her and that's how I came onboard for her film," she added.

In "Nerungi Vaa Muthamidathe", which features Piaa Bajpai in the lead, Shruti plays a village belle.

"Although I play a village girl, my character traits are that of an urban girl. That's what makes this character different. Village girls are usually portrayed as very innocent and bubbly, but my character is extremely stubborn and gets what she sets her eyes on," she said.

"My character has a separate story running from the main story. My story entirely runs in a song and it connects to the main story. That idea kind of excited me. I don't play the lead heroine, but I trusted Lakshmy and agreed to work in the film," she added.

Talking about her collaboration with a female director, Shruti said: "A woman's perspective of films is very emotional-based and is seldom about the commercial aspect of cinema business. We (women) do it with our heart. I feel she's broken that notion about women with the film."

"She's also extremely professional, organised and a little bit on the edge when it comes to completing work on time. Rarely do you find organised sets, especially in Kannada cinema. More importantly, since she's an actor too, that largely helps her in direction," said Sruthi.

How has life changed after the critically and commercially successful Kannada film "Lucia"?

"In Kannada, work is coming my way and unlike before I don't run after films. But to get quality cinema is becoming a huge problem. Once you finish a film like 'Lucia', you can't expect good and challenging work to always come your way," she said.

"I realized that you have to go through that commercial cinema rut to survive. In fact, I'm doing two such films now, but I'll always be willing to do films like 'Lucia' any day," she added.

Shruti has two Kannada films ready for release.