Shruti Haasan prayed for men to get periods so it could be written into contract; crew worked around co-star's knee pain

Actor Shruti Haasan mentioned on Soha Ali Khan's podcast that she has learnt to inform her directors about her periods while shooting.

Actor Shruti Haasan got candid about dealing with painful periods while shooting for films on Soha Ali Khan’s podcast. She mentioned how when a co-star mentioned pain from knee surgery, the film’s crew worked around it. Shruti also revealed ‘praying a thousand times’ for men to get periods, so it could be written into work contracts.

Shruti Haasan says she wouldn't talk about her periods in the beginning of her career.

Shruti Haasan prayed for men to get periods

Shruti and Soha spoke about the misconceptions surrounding hormones and periods. Shruti then mentioned, “I mean, there’s only one solution to this, and I prayed about it a thousand times that men get periods. And then we’d have, like, period holidays written into our contract.” Agreeing that it would be helpful, Soha also pointed out that then men would compete about how much they bled that month or how big their tampons are.

On telling directors about her periods

Shruti mentioned having painful periods due to her PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) diagnosis. However, she says that at the beginning of her career, she couldn’t talk about it on set. More than taboo, she says that many didn’t even want to talk about it. But then directors would wonder why she looked different on a certain day, or why her energy was different.

“Yes, I will do it, but it would be so much more collaborative if you knew what I was going through. And then I noticed, one of my co-stars was like, you know, I’ve had that knee surgery. And they were like, oh okay, so let’s work around this. And I was like, I have my period. It’s literally how it started. The first time I told a director, he has a daughter, and he said she also has very bad cramps. It just changed the colour,” said the actor.

Shruti Haasan’s recent work

Shruti last starred in Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Coolie in 2025. The ensemble film led by Rajinikanth also saw Nagarjuna Akkineni, Soubin Shahir, Upendra, Sathyaraj, and Rachita Ram in key roles. Aamir Khan played a cameo while Pooja Hegde featured in a special number. The film grossed ₹518 crore worldwide but received lukewarm reviews.

This year, Shruti featured in Buchi Babu Sana’s Peddi for the song Hellallallo with Ram Charan and Janhvi Kapoor. Shruti has the Tamil film Train, directed by Mysskin, lined up. Vijay Sethupathi stars in it. She also has Pavan Sadineni’s Aakasamlo Oka Tara in Telugu. It stars Dulquer Salmaan and Satvika Veeravalli in lead roles.