Shruti Haasan is Reinventing Her Favourite Tamil Classics

When actor and singer-songwriter Shruti Haasan takes on a film project with a tight timeline, she often experiences what she calls a “premature breakup” with her character. “Sometimes, you just don’t know how to deal with it,” she admits.

For her British thriller film The Eye (2023), director Daphne Schmon had seen an Instagram snippet of Haasan playing the piano and asked her to write a song for the rolling credits. “She asked if I could rewrite that song but for the character I played, which was super intense,” Haasan says. “That song was a way of me cathartically saying goodbye to the character. That’s the first time in a long time, I felt my two worlds meeting so seamlessly, and I felt really glad to have two different jobs that can meet in the middle somewhere.”

Now gearing up for her performance at Odeum by Prism in Hyderabad on April 26, 2025, Haasan is finding another way to merge her music and film worlds. This time, she’s crafting darker, heavier renditions of her favorite Tamil songs—including those featuring her father, legendary actor Kamal Haasan—with her band. “That’s something fun that we’re trying out for the first time in a mixed set. I’m super stoked about that because I’m really proud of my roots. So it’s about bringing it into my world as well in a way that I find comfortable,” she says.

While keeping most details under wraps, Haasan hints that at least one of the film songs she’s performing is a composition by the legendary Ilaiyaraaja. Alongside these reimagined Tamil tracks, she will also dive into her English catalog, delivering the industrial rock energy of “Monster Machine” and powerful songs like “She Is A Hero,” “In Between Place,” and “Edge.” She’ll be joined on stage by guitarist-producer Karan Parikh, drummer Karun Kannampilly, keyboardist Shivam Trivedi (“We love him; he’s the entertainment of the band,” she jokes), and bassist Yohann Coutinho. “We work predominantly out of Island City Studios, which is really like a second home. The whole team there is just amazing. It’s a lot of fun to go back into that environment,” she adds.

When it comes to preparing for the Hyderabad show, Haasan is focused on building “physical agility” to maintain stamina—a practice she relates to her acting roles. “It’s just about switching gears and getting into a different headspace to collaborate musically versus cinematically,” she adds.

Her set will run just over an hour—a conscious choice. “I actually cross very little above an hour because when I go to gigs, I like an hour of show. I’m not much of a talker, either. I like the songs to do the talking. When I go to gigs as well, and there’s people telling me what that song is about for eight minutes, I’m like, ‘Okay, you know, let us figure it out.’ That’s the beauty.”

Fans can also expect unreleased material, including Bury Me, a cinematic trip-hop Hindi-English track she has been performing live since 2018. The delay in its release? Haasan has a vision for an “epic music video” and won’t put the song out until she can do it justice. “If I don’t get that video, I’m not releasing the song,” she states firmly.

Given the scale of her 2023 release Monster Machine, it’s safe to say the wait will be worth it. “There are about 20 songs which are unreleased. I’m just not mad about releasing stuff, which I should be, because every artist should release as frequently as possible,” she says. While Hasaan finds social media’s fleeting attention spans frustrating (“like that of a housefly,” she quips), she acknowledges the benefits of streaming platforms in making music more accessible.

Currently, Haasan is revisiting her own scratch tracks and demos while also exploring new music. She’s been listening to heavy sounds from Bring Me The Horizon and Architects, alongside New Delhi metal band Bloodywood, whom she saw at the U.K.’s Download Festival in 2023. At the same time, she’s broadening her sonic horizons. “But on the other side, I’m also like trying to expand my ears because that’s just the duty of any good musician, to keep your ears open and listen to other genres.”

Her Hyderabad gig follows the completion of her latest South Indian film, Coolie, an ensemble project featuring Rajinikanth, Nagarjuna, Upendra, Soubin Shahir, and more. “I’ve been shooting nonstop till about a week ago. Because there’s so many actors in the film and stuff, it was really hard to get to a gig. So now, I’m excited for the next couple of months where it’s just going to be me gigging and playing music and spending time writing new music,” she shares.

Shruti Haasan will perform at Odeum by Prism in Hyderabad on April 26, 2025. Details here.