Shruti Haasan Reveals Her Father Kamal Haasan Only Funded Her Education

Actress Shruti Haasan says her upbringing was quite different from the common belief that star kids grow up with a silver spoon. Speaking on the YouTube series Double Date with Angad Bedi and Neha Dhupia, she shared that her father, veteran actor Kamal Haasan, paid only for her education and no other luxuries. Shruti explained that her father followed a strict parenting style and she even joked that he is genuinely unimpressed by her. Aside from her school and college years, she managed her own finances and once faced money problems while trying to work as an English singer-songwriter. She joked that she eventually moved to Bollywood when she needed money. Her father paid for her tuition and stay when she went to America at age 19 for music education because she could not afford it herself. She noted that his rule was simple: he would pay for any amount of studying, but everything else in life was her own responsibility. Previously, she told Twinkle Khanna that her father is her biggest ally and a man who breaks rules for women in a patriarchal society. Kamal Haasan stated at the International Film Festival of India in 2017 that he gave his daughters very little input regarding their acting careers, expecting them to figure things out on their own. Shruti was recently seen in a song from the project Peddi.

Context

Star children in the Indian film industry often face public assumptions about receiving easy financial support and career openings from their famous parents. However, several actors have spoken about carving out independent paths and managing their own financial challenges in the entertainment world.