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Aksharaa Haasan on parents Kamal Haasan and Sarika's legacy: Shruti and I have to defend it
Actor Aksharaa Haasan opens up about success, setbacks and balancing her own journey while carrying forward the legacy of Kamal Haasan, Sarika and Shruti Haasan
Aksharaa Haasan was recently seen in the sci-fi OTT release Simulacra that questions reality in a dystopian future where the memories can be erased via technology. While the actor is overwhelmed with the response to the film, she also acknowledges the comparisons being made to the 2004 Hollywood film Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.
Ask her if there is an inspiration taken from the Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet-starrer and she says, “This is a question better answered by Mr. Pankaj Sawant, our director. But I would say yes, there is an inspiration because it is a true reality that they have depicted well. So there was a slight inspiration and ode to them.”
The 34-year-old has been a part of the film industry for over a decade but has only a handful of acting projects to her name. Has it been a conscious choice or lack of good work? “It just worked out that way. It’s as simple as that. There's no complication and no complaints there at all because it helped me discover a side of me also in the times when there was a down period,” she responds, adding, “The beauty of art and human nature is that we have a choice. Depending on the perception of the person, what they choose personally for themselves. We are a by-product of art. So, it depends on human choice and I like to be one with it."
Aksharaa Haasan is daughter to actors Kamal Haasan and Sarika, and she admits that actor-sister Shruti Haasan and she do understand the pressure of their legacy. “Both my parents made us understand both worlds. We got the space to be ourselves at home to be the best person we can ever be. But I also understand that the world outside these four walls of our home is very different,” she says.
The actor adds, “My parents gave both my sister and I the understanding that we have to co-exist and do the best we can. Because of that, we have to be a bit cautious with certain associations because we have to defend the legacy they have worked hard for on their own terms and on their own merit. We have also been given the space to be ourselves and earn our own space and earn things on our own merit. We cannot forget where we come from and therefore we have to protect that. But also to be given the freedom to do it our way, and with the right guidance from both our parents, we were able to achieve it a lot easier.”
Have the failures she has seen as an actor also deterred her from taking more work? “Who isn't used to dealing with failure? The dangerous bit is when we get success and how you handle that. That's one very valuable piece of advice I've gotten early on in my career, that anybody and everybody can handle failure but not everyone can handle success. I am more able to deal with it now but initially it used to bother me. It's a long process, with just patience, resistance and persistence. At some point you have to become thick skinned. It’s just sooner better than later,” she says.
Aksharaa says that she would want to do more work but it’s all about “the right time and place”. “There was a time when I was like ‘it's not my time over here right now and it's okay. Maybe it's not my time to shine’. And I was okay with that. But there will be a time when I'll come again because life has ups and downs like a roller coaster.
