My lineage carries a weight, says Shruti
Actor-singer Shruti Haasan is ecstatic at the kind of music journey she has been able to forge for herself. And this one, she says, has solely been on the basis of her hard work. But being the daughter of actor Kamal Haasan, Sarika, did she at any point, feel that she needs to emulate a certain kind of career or live up to the name?
She says ‘no’. “I always had my music, which is my own separate thing. But I didn’t feel that in my first film, either, because I didn’t even know what I was doing in it. I started feeling it later on. I felt it the
With a whopping 22 wins and just two loses in his entire UFC career, Daniel Cormier is undoubtedly one of the greatest fighters the sport has ever seen. And now, after holding records in multi-division championships and successfully defending it three-times, the 41-yearold American will walk to the octagon for one last time this Sunday for a final UFC 252 match against Stipe Miocic. Speaking about his ‘one last dance’, he most when I went to London, UK, and started my music there as an absolute nobody. It was like starting from scratch, and when I got judged positively, for me, that’s when I realised I have never experienced that in my entire life,” says Hassan.
The 34-year-old says that because of the ‘environment she grew up in’, she was always aware of her parents’ popularity. “There was no avoiding it. I was always so and so’s daughter, but at the age of 30, to go to London, and to see what I could do, was humbling and gave me confidence,” says Haasan, who is set to release an original track called Edge.
She started her movie career says, “I am excited and I feel pumped up. It has been a great training camp, very taxing and gruelling, but I had a good time.”
Cormier knows that this would be his last walk to the octagon as a fighter in UFC. So, does this add an emotional pressure on him? “Pressure is always there.
You can’t put pressure on yourself if you don’t earn it. You earn it by putting yourself in situations where you are trying to accomplish something. So, when the moment comes, you don’t run from it, you embrace it. I earned this pressure and I like to live in it,” he says, adding, “When I walk to the octagon this time, my feeling is going to be the same. I am here to compete. I can’t walk in there thinking, ‘oh! This would be the last time I walk through the hall’. I am here to win a fight.”
Cormier admits that things have been “difficult” during this lockdown and he had to “approach the sport differently”. “I have worked hard to be where I am today. Most of my training was done at home during the lockdown. I couldn’t go to the gym like before, but we got it done,” he shares. Cormier is known for his sense of humour and in 2009, and has been acting since. But does she feel the entertainment industry is a fair place with equal opportunities? “I don’t know how one can even judge that. I am aware that my lineage carries a weight and it opened doors for me, no question about that,” she says.
Carving her own niche is what the singer-actor really wanted. “I want to have an authentic journey, which is not about using the name I made in India. Labels would be happy and say ‘let’s work with her, she brings so many followers’, as today, data is power. But for me, it’s been a very authentic journey,” she signs off.