Kani Kusruti (born 12 September 1985) is an Indian actress and model. She first gained recognition in 2009 with the film ''
Kerala Cafe
''Kerala Cafe'' is a 2009 Indian Malayalam-language anthology film produced by Ranjith and directed by a team of ten directors including Lal Jose, Shaji Kailas, Anwar Rasheed, Shyamaprasad, B. Unnikrishnan, Revathy, Anjali Menon, M. Padmakuma ...
'', where her performance was critically acclaimed. Kani won the
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...
at
Kerala State Film Awards
The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have been bestowed by Kerala State Cha ...
in 2020 and the BRICS Best Actress Award at the
Moscow International Film Festival
The Moscow International Film Festival (russian: Моско́вский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is the film festival first h ...
for her performance as Khadeeja in the film ''
Biriyaani
''Biriyaani'' is a 2020 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by Sajin Baabu. It features Kani Kusruti and Shailaja Jala in the lead roles. The film won NETPAC award for best film in 20th ''Asiatica Film Festival'' in Rome, ...
''.
Early life
Kani was born in Cheruvakkal, a small village in
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...
, Kerala, to social activist and rationalist parents Jayasree A. K. and Maitreya Maitreyan. Her parents had dropped their last names to erase the social hierarchy marker that comes with last names in India. At 15, she invented her last name "Kusruti" (meaning "mischievous" in
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
) to fill in a requirement in her
class 10th exam application. She grew up in Thiruvananthapuram, where she got introduced to the Abhinaya Theatre Research Centre, "a common platform for theatre practitioners". She later moved to
Thrissur
Thrissur (), formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and t ...
, where she enrolled in the theatre arts program at the Thrissur School of Drama, between 2005 and 2007. She completed her theatre education at the
L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq
École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq is a school of physical theatre located on Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis in the 10th arrondissement of Paris.
Founded in 1956 by Jacques Lecoq, the school offers a professional and intensive two-ye ...
, where she studied physical theatre for two years.
Career
At Abhinaya, Kusruti made her theatre debut in Baudhayana's classic farce ''
Bhagavadajjukam
The ''Bhagavadajjukam'' (Sanskrit; translated as ''The Ascetic and the Courtesan'' or ''The Hermit and the Harlot'') is a Sanskrit farce composed in the 7th century CE, usually attributed to Bodhayana. However, inscriptional and scholarly eviden ...
''. She played the lead role of Vasantsena in the production from 2000 to 2006. The play toured across theatre festivals, including the Bharat Rang Mahotsav and the International Theatre Festival of Kerala. She rendered the part of Kamala in M. G. Jyotish's stage adaptation of
Hermann Hesse
Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...
's ''
Siddhartha''. In 2007, the production was invited to the Villeneuve en Scene
Festival d'Avignon
The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival, is an annual arts festival held in the French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vila ...
.
In 2009, after returning from L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, Kusruti appeared in the anthology film ''
Kerala Cafe
''Kerala Cafe'' is a 2009 Indian Malayalam-language anthology film produced by Ranjith and directed by a team of ten directors including Lal Jose, Shaji Kailas, Anwar Rasheed, Shyamaprasad, B. Unnikrishnan, Revathy, Anjali Menon, M. Padmakuma ...
'', in the segment "Island Express" directed by
Shankar Ramakrishnan
Shanker Ramakrishnan is an Indian film screenwriter, director, producer and actor, who works primarily in the Malayalam cinema.
Career
He started his career immediately after completing post-graduation from the School of Management Studies, C ...
. In 2010, she played a
Naxalite in the
Mohanlal
Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeare ...
starrer ''Shikkar'', but her nuanced rendition of a sex worker in the 2010 film ''Cocktail'' got her noticed by mainstream audiences.
In December 2010, Kani collaborated on creating 'Las Indias', a "mega performance event" directed by the thespian and theatre pedagogist Elias Cohen. The performance was staged in a bus, that was designed for the production. The Indo-Latin American theatre company, the Singing Sticks Theatre Ensemble evolved out of Las Indias. The bus that was originally created for Las Indias, was used once again for an interactive theatre roadshow 'Tsunami Express: Highway of Hopes', which Kusruti collaborated on making.
In 2011, Kani joined the renowned touring theatre company Footsbarn to work on a new production of Shakespeare's ''
Tempest
Tempest is a synonym for a storm.
'' The Tempest'' is a play by William Shakespeare.
Tempest or The Tempest may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''The Tempest'' (1908 film), a British silent film
* ''The Tempest'' (1911 film), a ...
''. She played Miranda in the resulting performance "The Indian Tempest". After touring Ireland, Spain, France, Portugal and India, the production opened at
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. The original theatre was built in ...
in 2013.
Kusruti researched, co-developed and acted in the Indo-Polish production 'Burning Flowers - 7 Dreams of a Woman', directed by
Pawel Szkotak and produced by
Teatr Biuro Podróży
Teatr Biuro Podróży (''Travel Agency Theatre'') is an alternative theatre company based in Poznań, Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces call ...
.
In 2015, Kani became a household presence with the soap opera ''Eswaran Sakshiyayi'', directed by
K. K. Rajeev
K. K. Rajeev is a director from the Malayalam television industry.
Career
His most famous serials are ''Peythozhiyathe'', Venal mazha, ''Swapnam'', ''Avicharitham'', ''Amma Manassu'', ''Kudumbayogam'', ''Orma'', ''Mazhayariyathe, Kadhayile Rajaku ...
. She played the part of Advocate Tresa, a lawyer who joins in on the investigation for her brother's murder.
Awards
;Kerala State Film Awards
* 2019 - Best Actress - Biriyani
;South Filmfare Awards
* 2020 - Best Actress (Critics-Malayalam) - Biriyani
Personal life
Kusruti's mother Dr. Jayasree AK, a community medicine specialist and social activist, lectures at Pariyaram Medical College, and is a regular guest on talk shows. Her father Maitreya Maitreyan has worked for, and led, several human rights movements in Kerala.
She lives in Mumbai with her partner, the filmmaker and science communicator
Anand Gandhi
Anand Gandhi (born Anand Modi, 26 September 1980) is an Indian filmmaker, entrepreneur, media producer, innovator and systems researcher. He is also the founder/CEO of the Mumbai-based new media studio and systems think tank Memesys Culture Lab ...
. She identifies herself as an atheist and a rationalist. On 19 February 2019, she revealed she quit acting due to sexual demands from filmmakers. The actress has now made serious claims against the Malayalam film industry. Shockingly, Kani has claimed that filmmakers even approached her mom to convince her to give in to their demands. Kani chose to go back to theatre, but she couldn't earn enough in that industry to make a living.
However, Kani is hopeful about the Malayalam film industry after the #MeToo Movement and initiations like Women in Cinema Collective. In 2019, Kusruti along with 48 other notable artists in the country had written an open letter to Narendra Modi over incidents of lynching in the country.
Filmography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusruti, Kani
1985 births
Living people
Actresses from Thiruvananthapuram
Actresses in Malayalam cinema
Indian film actresses
Actresses in Malayalam television
Female models from Thiruvananthapuram
Actresses in Tamil cinema
L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq alumni
21st-century Indian actresses
Indian rationalists
Indian atheists
Television personalities from Kerala
Women artists from Kerala