Red and black Shruti Haasan

Red and black. Those are the colours in which musician/actor Shruti Haasan said her room was painted back in her hometown, Chennai, and the choice, to, expressed just how off the beaten track she prefers to walk. Clearly, they remain her happy colours because she also arrived for her appointment with , as celebrity guide for the Culture issue dressed in - yes, red and black!

If South superstar Kamal Haasan’s translucent-skinned, multifaceted daughter chooses to march to the beat of a different drummer, it’s so ok with because traditionally, the Greats in music, drama, painting, literature, indeed any artistic medium have seldom followed the straight and narrow.

Shruti, with her traditional grounding and global schooling in music, life (!) seemed to fit right into this space. She effortlessly bantered on diverse subjects: from the need to focus on the disappearing traditional gharanas of classical music to the wonders of the sarod, to Lady Gaga’s money spinning music. And then debated on how tattoos (at latest count she’s sporting five) are much misunderstood, globally!

Straddling the contemporary, still embracing the traditional, 24-year-old Shruti’s questing outlook, her wise answers, her absolute self-possession bring out all that is best in young minds today. And bring us faith in Gen Next’s competence as custodians of our culture for our tomorrows.