Ten years back, filmmaker Aishwarya Rajinikanth marked her directorial debut with 3 (2012), a romantic-psychological thriller. The film, starring Dhanush and Shruti Haasan, dealt with the themes of mental health and self-harm. It went on to garner wide critical acclaim and one of its songs, Why This Kolaveri Di, became an instant chartbuster. However, the film performed below expectations at the box office upon its release.
And on Thursday, 3 was re-released in Telugu on the occasion of Dhanush’s father, filmmaker Kasthuri Raja’s birthday. The film has been receiving a smashing response from the audience with many cinema halls in Hyderabad running to packed capacities. Videos of fans dancing inside theatres also have been going viral on social media.
In an exclusive interaction with News18, 3’s leading lady, Shruti, shares her joy on the success of the Telugu version of the film a decade after its original release. She says, “It’s funny! When the film came out, everyone loved it. They went like, ‘It’s really romantic, beautiful and meaningful’. But it didn’t get a mass reaction."
But over the years, the response from her fans on the thriller have been rather overwhelming. “There hasn’t been a single day when I haven’t being tagged in a 3 related reel on social media. They feel that it resonates with their life and they can connect with the characters. When the film came out, everyone was all about Why This Kolaveri Di. The film hasn’t really stood the test of time as much as this sweet, amazing love song has," she says.
Shruti reveals that one of the reasons behind 3’s box office performance back in 2012 could be that that it was too early for the audience to warm up to her. “People said, ‘Oh, we didn’t really get Shruti. She’s good but what’s she doing?’" she recalls.
Looking back at that time, the 36-year-old further elaborates, “3 was one of the earlier films in my career. Before that, I had done Anaganaga O Dheerudu (2011) in Telugu and Luck (2009) in Hindi. 7aum Arivu (2011) had just released and things began changing for me post that. And after Gabbar Singh (2012), my career completely changed. The first four years of my life was really triggering because I was just trying to find my way but people were just like, ‘We don’t get her.’ I kept at it because I enjoyed my work and I wanted to be a part of the movies."
Apart from the house full shows, what also makes Shruti happy is the audience’s reaction to her screen presence and performance. “This time around, though, the appreciation has been much more honest and open towards me and I’m very humbled by that. It feels amazing. I’m very thankful to the creators of the film for making me a part of it because it truly is a cult film," she states.
So, does she think that 3 was ahead of its time? “It definitely was and that’s also because the story was related to mental health," Shruti remarks.
Shedding light on what she believes kept the mass audience away from it in 2012, the Putham Pudhu Kaalai (2020) and Pitta Kathalu (2021) actor says, “I remember a lot of people saying that it promoted self-harm but it wasn’t the concept of the movie at all. If you really look at it, we tried to say that mental struggles are often faced alone and the people close to us may not comprehend that but it’s a very real struggle."
Shruti, a champion of mental health herself, took professional help and she feels that the pandemic changed people’s perception of the issue. And that, according to her, is probably what worked in 3’s favour this time around as many resonated with the storyline.
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“All through 2018 and 2019 before the pandemic, I was speaking about mental health. I’ve very recently reaped the benefits of investing in myself and my mental health and everything that came with it. I’m living a sober life now. People thought that was cool but it was actually during the pandemic that their issues hit them. And suddenly, we saw them talking about their mental health, parenting and considering their children’s mental health, across news channels on television. All of these things came to the forefront," she avers.
“Ten years ago, an expression of any kind of angst on social media wasn’t as open as it is today. I think that today, the concept of the film has clicked. Moreover, the notion of love, in its simplest form, is timeless. The audience had understood this bit at that time too but its complexities and layers have sunk into their minds now," adds Shruti, who will next be seen in Telugu films like Salaar, Waltair Veerayya and NBK 107.
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