Shruti Haasan on life and work in her 40s: “I always looked at careers of women being much more interesting”
As Shruti Haasan steps into her 40s, the actor is looking at the next phase of her professional journey with a perspective shaped by the women she has admired throughout her life. In a conversation with Soha Ali Khan, Haasan opened up about entering a new decade, whether age has changed the professional environment around her and how her approach to careers has been influenced by women who continued to evolve well beyond conventional timelines.
Speaking about what she finds exciting about this phase of her life, Haasan said, “The thing I find exciting is maybe it was just my good fortune that I always looked at careers of women being much more interesting.”
The actor explained that her outlook towards age and professional growth was shaped much earlier, revealing that even in her 20s, she noticed women who continued to build interesting careers beyond their 30s. “Past 40, even in my 20s I was like, oh look at Kate Plant, look what she’s doing. She did all that past 35, 36,” she shared.
For Haasan, these examples helped establish an understanding of careers that did not revolve around a particular age. Instead, she found inspiration in women who continued to explore different creative avenues and remained professionally relevant over several decades.
She also pointed to musicians whose careers have had a lasting influence on her perspective as she went on, “Even musicians, Madonna, who is like one of my biggest influencers, Aasha ji, whoever you say, these women just did not have a number on them. So that by default became my template.”
Her comments underline how these influences have shaped her own understanding of womanhood, work and longevity. Rather than treating 40 as a fixed professional milestone, Haasan appears to view it as another stage in an evolving journey, one where opportunities and creative possibilities can continue to change.
The actor’s perspective also reflects the importance of having diverse templates for women in entertainment, particularly those whose careers continue to develop across different stages of life. For Haasan, the women she admired growing up demonstrated that age need not determine the direction or ambition of a career.
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