Wishing. Hoping. Praying Shriya Saran

The Southern Superstar Is Insanely Busy—she Wants to Perform Kathak on Stage, Direct a Dance Musical, Stay Unfazed and Eternally Happy. This New Year, Make Some Serious Goals With Shriya, as She Leads the Way.

- Deepika Nandal

She was born in the small town of Haridwar and grew up in Dehradun and Delhi, spending her childhood in the foothills of the Himalayas, with long morning walks, swimming for many hours, chasing the rains and trekking in the lush greens. Talk to her about winters and Shriya Saran hits nostalgia. “We used to sunbathe at the college gazebo and eat namak amrud sold outside the gate,” says the actor, who studied English and History at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi.

The daughter of a chemistry teacher and an engineer, it was both surprising as well as remarkable that Shriya chose acting as her line of work and also made it big, particularly in the south Indian film industry. She is most known for her award-winning performances in Sivaji: The Boss, Kanthaswamy, Thoranai, Rowthiram and Manam. Apart from these southern wonders, Shriya has made a name in Bollywood with Awarapan and Drishyam, and in Hollywood with The Other End of the Line and Midnight’s Children. This year, she has three movies lined up: Tadka (in Hindi), Gautamiputra Satakarni (in Telugu) and AAA (in Tamil). She’s also currently training in kathak, under the guidance of Mumbai-based kathak guru, Nutan Patwardhan. “I really want to write and direct a dance musical at some point in my life,” she says.

But this isn’t the only goal that Shriya has set for herself, this year. Go ahead, take a leaf out of her diary and make some of them your own.

a penchant to keep on learning