Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Entertainment | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

The world according to Shruti Hassan

She's much more than Kamal's daughter. Meet Shruti Hassan

MUSIC WITH A MESSAGE Shruti Hassan

Shruti Hassan has lofty ideals. Kamal Hassan's daughter, who's all set to pursue formal music studies in the U.S. and also trying her hand at writing, has a clear view of the world and sufficient intellectual breadth to consider the frailties of the human condition. Humans err in believing that they can dominate the web in which they exist and suffer as a result, she says. Perhaps her most profound thought revolves around the way in which people interpret the world and come to conclusions. The natural resource of culture, in her understanding, is greatly threatened by globalisation.

"I centre my writing around perceived reality and dreams because I feel that they somehow are less filtered and reflect raw thought. Each person in his own garden of thought (his own perceived reality or dreams) is in a more honest state of being than when he puts forth that thought to others or even addresses himself. These patterns are what I am trying to reflect on," she says.

Here is a sample of Shruti's writing that prompted the question, why do you dwell on dreams?

It is fascinating to have these big and small dreams

Of no meaning, with great consequence. And I see the greener grass below my feet

And I am transfixed with egocentric joy

Joy= bliss= ignorance
Or
Bliss=Ignorance=joy
Bliss=joy=ignorance?
Each to his own perspective, paradigm, fractal
Each believing in so much more than he can see
And I say my fantasies are your reality
Your "distant lands" are my home
My needs are yours fulfilled
Your desires are my existence.
As I concoct thought in lamplight;
You awake with dust in your eyes
We can barely see,
Both awake and falling asleep
It is fascinating to have both large and miniscule dreams,
Of no consequence, with great introspection.
How have we survived evolution?
To believe we are near invincible
Is this truly survival?
Or yet another dream?

Everyone is waiting to hear the music that Shruti is working on and she plans to train in America to lend depth to it. She promises that her work will have a social message.

Social message

"My music has messages, yes, social and psychological but I haven't ventured into political opinions. Politically, I question larger perspectives," she emphasises, adding that her music will consist of "simple layers that are human and also deeper layers for those who are interested."

On her immediate purpose, she says, "I am hoping that my experiences with different people from varied environments will enrich my social perspective, which in turn should reflect in my writing. I do believe that what separates a good artist from a great one is the message that they carry and more important, the way they manipulate the medium they use."

At a more fundamental level, we ask her whether art imitates life or is it the other way round. Shruti, who has done some modelling, thinks it is a little like the chicken-egg question. "You could sort of say that art is the egg that the chicken (life) lays." she suggests.

She adds art is in more ways than one a reflection (even if a dramatised one) of life. Though art may sometimes lack the dimensions to cover the spectrum of an occurrence, it acts as a true representation of life. "I am still in deep introspection about this question," she concludes.

S. SHIVAKUMAR

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail