Girija (born 18 September 1975), known by her screen name Shruti, is an Indian actress, television personality and politician. As an actress, she predominantly appears in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

film industry. She is currently serving as chief secretary of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

's women's wing in its

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

cadre. In addition to Kannada, Shruti has appeared in a handful of Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films. She was among the leading actresses in Kannada cinema during the 1990s and has won three Karnataka State Film Awards and four Filmfare Awards South in her career spanning over 25 years. She is known for performance in films such as '' Gauri Ganesha'' (1991), ''

Aagatha ''Aaghaata'' is a 1995 Indian Kannada language thriller - drama film directed by Suresh Heblikar and based on a novel by Dr. Ashok Pai. It was produced by Manasa Arts banner. Besides Heblikar, the film features Girish Karnad, Shruti and Srika ...

'' (1995), ''

Kalki Kalki ( sa, कल्कि), also called Kalkin or Karki, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is described to appear in order to end the Kali Yuga, one of the four periods in the endless cycle of exis ...

'' (1996), ''

Gowdru ''Gowdru'' is a 2004 Kannada drama film directed by S. Mahendar. The film features Ambareesh, Devaraj and Shruti in the lead roles. Meena, B. Jaya and Ramesh Pandit feature in supporting roles. The film marks the 200th of Ambareesh and the 100 ...

'' (2004), '' Akka Thangi'' (2008) and '' Puttakkana Highway'' (2011). She is sister of actor Sharan. In 2016, she won the third season of the reality television show Bigg Boss Kannada. Shruti joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2008. She was made the chairperson of the Karnataka Women and Child Development Corporation before being removed in 2009. In 2013, she joined the Karnataka Janata Paksha which eventually merged in 2014 with the BJP.

Early life

Born in a

speaking family in

, Shruti's birth name is Girija. She was credited as Priyadarshini in her first Kannada movie '' Aasegobba Meesegobba''. She was named Shruti by the actor-director

Dwarakish Bungle Shama Rao Dwarakanath (born 19 August 1942), better known as Dwarakish ( ), is an Indian actor, director and producer in the Kannada film industry. He was given the name Dwarakish by Kannada film maker C. V. Shivashankar. Early life D ...

who introduced her in a leading role for his film '' Shruthi'' in 1990.

Career

Shruthi was in Puttur in her early ages of life. Shruti started her cinema career 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 wa ...

film Swantham ennu karuthi. Kannada movie '' Aasegobba Meesegobba'' as

Shivarajkumar Nagaraju Shiva Puttaswamy (born 12 July 1962) known by his screen name Shiva Rajkumar, is an Indian actor, producer and television presenter, predominantly works in Kannada cinema.

's sister role. Later in the year 1990, she acted as heroine in the movie '' Shruthi'' directed and produced by

. This movie was a successful one running over 25 weeks. Some of the most famous and successful Kannada movies from Shruti are, ''Shruti'', ''Taayi Illada Tavaru'', ''Veerappa Nayaka'', '' Gauri Ganesha'', ''Bombat Hendthi'', ''

Muddina Maava ''Muddina Maava'' (English Translation: ''Beloved father-in-law'') is a Kannada language feature film released in 1993, starring Shashi Kumar, Shruti, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Tara. The film is a remake of the Tamil film ''Naan Pudicha Mappi ...

'', ‘’Mr. Mahesh Kumar’’, ''

Midida Hrudayagalu ''Midida Hrudayagalu'' is a 1993 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film, directed by A. T. Raghu and written by Shantharaj. The film stars Ambareesh, Shruti and Nirosha. The film is regarded as one of more popular movies of Shruti. The fi ...

''. Soon after these films, Shruti was stereotyped for tear jerking roles in many Kannada films. She won her first Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress for the movie ''

'' (1995) directed by Suresh Heblikar. In her career spanning for more than two decades, she acted with all the leading male stars in the film industry of her times like Vishnuvardhan,

Ambareesh Malavalli Huchchegowda Amarnath (29 May 1952 – 24 November 2018), known by his screen name Ambareesh, was an Indian actor, media personality, politician from the state of Karnataka. Alongside Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan, he is counted i ...

, Tiger Prabhakar,

Shiva Rajkumar Nagaraju Shiva Puttaswamy (born 12 July 1962) known by his screen name Shiva Rajkumar, is an Indian actor, producer and television presenter, predominantly works in Kannada cinema.

Shashikumar Shashi Kumar (born 2 December 1965) is an actor and politician from Karnataka. He works predominantly in Kannada films. Acting career Shashi Kumar's first released film was ''Chiranjeevi Sudhakara'' starring Raghavendra Rajkumar. In 1989 h ...

, Ramesh Aravind,

Jaggesh Jaggesh is an Indian politician, actor, director and producer, who mainly works in the Kannada film industry. He is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka since 2022 and the spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnat ...

, Devaraj, Sunil, Abhijeeth, Ram Kumar and others. In Telugu, most of her films are with the famous comedy hero Rajendra Prasad. She made her debut in Telugu withe movie

Parugo Parugu ''Parugo Parugu'' () is a 1994 Indian Telugu-language comedy film, produced by Sudhakar under the Satyadev Movie Makers banner and directed by Relangi Narasimha Rao. It stars Rajendra Prasad and Sruthi, with music composed by Raj–Koti. The fi ...

against Rajendra Prasad. Her Tamil film ''

'' (1996) directed by the ace director K. Balachander won her the Filmfare Award and also the Tamil Nadu State Award for Best Actress. '' Navashakthi Vaibhava'' (2008) was Shruti's 100th film when she began filming in 2003. The film however saw theatrical release five years later. ''

'' turned out to be her 100th film, in which she played the sister of Ramegowda (played by

). Shruti made her small screen debut in the Malayalam serial ''Sthreethvam'' aired on Surya TV during 2005. Also, her Tamil daily serial, ''Karthigai Pengal'' aired on Sun TV from July 2012. Shruti was a contestant in the reality television show Bigg Boss Kannada 3, winning the season, in January 2016. In 2017, she appeared as a judge in the comedy television series ''Majaa Bharatha''.

Personal life

Shruti was married to film director

S. Mahendar S. Mahendar is an Indian film director working in Kannada cinema. He is also a politician with the BJP contesting from Kollegal constituency in Karnataka. He debuted into cinema with ''Pranayada Pakshigalu'' (1992) and went to direct for over ...

for 11 years and divorced in 2009. Post her divorce, she was linked with Chakravarthy Chandrachud, a journalist-turned-director and they married in June 2013 before the marriage ended in a divorce a year later.

Filmography

Television

TV serials

* 2005 :''Sthreetvam'' ( Surya TV) -

* 2012-2013: '' Karthigai Pengal'' ( Sun TV) - Tamil

Television shows

* '' Bigg Boss Kannada 3'' (2016) * '' Majaa Talkies'' — as guest * ''Super Minute'' * ''Mareyalare'' * ''Hejje Guruthu'' * ''Majabharata'' (2017) * '' Weekend with Ramesh'' — as guest * '' Satya Kathe''

References

External links

*
Sruthi at MSI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shruti 1976 births Living people Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses from Karnataka Actresses in Malayalam cinema People from Hassan Actresses in Tamil cinema Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners Filmfare Awards South winners Participants in Indian reality television series Reality show winners Big Brother (franchise) winners 21st-century Indian actresses Indian television actresses Indian film actresses Actresses in Kannada television Actresses in Malayalam television Bigg Boss Kannada contestants Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Tamil television