Shruti Haasan’s artistry as a musician and a creative is a unique amalgamation of influences that you don’t often see from homegrown creatives. There’s an intention and weight to every facet of her identity as a creative and with each release, she offers us a glimpse into the vast well of themes and motifs that she draws from.
“Because I’m a poet first, when I first wrote it, it felt more like an angry poem so I wanted to direct the music towards that energy. The way it starts is almost spoken, rather than sung and I always wanted it to be like that. My other songs were written more as a song first.”Shruti Haasan
On her latest single, ‘Monster Machine’, she takes her audience into the depths of a dark, primal and abundantly sensual set of personas that aim to speak to a liberated, emancipated human spirit; one that’s unafraid to explore the complexity of love, lust, desire, and rage. There’s a brooding melancholy that embeds itself in the song's essence, with Shruti’s lyrics painting a picture of sublime, uninhibited femininity.
“I found my healing through the shadows and through the darkness. It wasn’t an avoidance of it, it was an acceptance of it. This song is the next step; it’s a celebration and an acknowledgement of my inner monster and an inner monster that we all have. Some of us choose to run with it, some of us choose to face it and some of us actually play with it.”Shruti Haasan
While speaking to Homegrown Shruti emphasized that what she likes the most about this single is the fact that it’s allowed her to show her audience a side they might never have seen before.
Monster Machine is an ode to myself; it’s a love letter to the darkness that I embrace within myself. It’s also a search for others that resonate with that darkness.Shruti Haasan
The video for the song was directed by Dwarakish and produced by both Shruti and her partner visual artist Santanu Hazarika under their collaborative endeavour BLCK Production. “We create a lot separately, but when we come together we can dip into the pool of things we’ve already created.” While working on the video they took a painting by Santanu that had always been a huge inspiration to Shruti and decided to thematically elaborate on it through the visuals on display.
Each scene in the video depicts Shruti channeling a different character, mood and emotion and pays homage to the Tish Thawer quote: “We are the granddaughters of the witches you weren't able to burn.”
“There’s a ‘witch’ in every culture, there’s a witch in every woman and for time immemorial she has been burned at some metaphorical stake. The public burning of a woman not accepted by society is timeless. This song is not about a woman living in a man’s world, it’s about a woman living in her world. What you turned her into is the monster.”Shruti Haasan
What truly elevates the single is its unflinching authenticity. It comes from a place where darkness, despair and rage meet beauty, euphoria and sensuality. It is in many ways a metaphor for how complex and multifaceted we are as people. Through its imagery and poignant lyrics, it affirms in no uncertain terms that there’s a monster in all of us.
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