Sruthi Hariharan – As a consumer, I love the variety that OTTs offer and as an actor, I want to explore the medium

Kannada actress Sruthi Hariharan is widely known for her choice of content-oriented, female-centric films, something which she has not been able to extend beyond the purview of mainstream cinema. The OTT boom that happened during the pandemic and continues has amazed her too as a consumer, given the variety of content she suddenly had access to across languages, in the comfort of her home.

Speaking to Metrosaga, Sruthi said that she saw different narratives being explored, which brought a lot of interesting female characters to the fore, not only in terms of the writing, but the performances as well. “They were more gutsy, bold and real,” she said, adding that she enjoyed a lot of this content across languages.

As an artiste, though, it made her realize that there are avenues that she has not explored as yet, like the OTT medium. “There are so many interesting characters in the films produced by, say, Amazon Prime Video or Netflix. I have not had the opportunity to be a part of any yet and have not attended any auditions either,” she says, but adds quickly that she hasn’t actively sought such work and that she should perhaps do that.

The actress has an upcoming film, which, by all accounts, is made for the OTT space, Strawberry, produced by Rakshit Shetty, which has been ready for a while, but the current scenario of mainstream platforms not keen on picking Kannada content has meant that it is yet to see the light of day. Meanwhile, Sruthi, who was last seen in 2022’s Head Bush, will have a release next week with debutant director Surya Vasishta’s Saramsha. Surya is also on the cast, along with Sruthi, Deepak Subramanya, Swetha Gupta, Ravi Bhatt, among others. The film, billed to be an emotional drama, will be in theatres on February 15.