SHRUTI HASSAN

HOSTING CHAT SHOW WAS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE:

“As a person, I’m social only with people I’m really comfortable with. I actually have this big problem in life itself. Generally, if I don’t find some person interesting, I’m just unable to pretend to finding them interesting. So, hosting such a show was a learning experience”

Shruti Haasan, who is currently acting in Laabam, opposite Vijay Sethupathi, had taken up a new role as a chat show host last year. The actress-singer says the experience was “really amazing” because she never thought that she’d be hosting a TV show. “As a person, I’m social only with people I’m really comfortable with. I actually have this big problem in life itself. Generally, if I don’t find some person interesting, I’m just unable to pretend to finding them interesting. So, hosting such a show was a learning experience,” she explains.

Talking about the learnings, she says, “I’m really socially awkward and I told my manager that I wouldn’t be right for the format. But the makers convinced me saying, ‘We know the way you actually are’. Now, people are telling me they never knew that I had such a side to me. What I learnt is that everybody has an interesting story — if you sit down and take the time to ask the right question.”

She credits the show’s producer and director Badri Venkatesh for making her feel at ease on set. “Badri is a very progressive man. Right at the start, he told the team, ‘We’re going to work around Shruti’s strengths’ and he did. Thanks to that, the show broke many preconceptions about me,” the actress says.

Shruti informs that the intention was to keep the show’s format really friendly and casual. “It was about finding a connect on a human level. Being a celebrity myself, I’ve never relished certain things, like nakkala pesaradhu or venumne asking you a tricky question.