Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Kani Kusruti
Indian actress From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Kani Kusruti is an Indian actress known primarily for her work in Malayalam films. She first gained recognition in 2009 with the film Kerala Cafe, in which her performance was critically acclaimed. Kani won the Best Actress at Kerala State Film Awards and the Best Actress Award at the Moscow International Film Festival for her performance in the film Biriyaani (2020). She has since starred in the independent films All We Imagine as Light and Girls Will Be Girls (both 2024).
.jpg)
Remove ads
Early life and education
Kani Kusruti was born in Cheruvakkal, a small village in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, to social activist parents Jayasree A. K. and Maitreya Maitreyan. Her parents had dropped their last names to erase the social hierarchy marker that comes with last names in India. At 15, she invented her last name "Kusruti" (meaning "mischievous" in Malayalam) to fill in a requirement in her class 10th exam application. She grew up in Thiruvananthapuram, where she got introduced to the Abhinaya Theatre Research Centre.[1][2]
Kusruti later moved to Thrissur, where she enrolled in the theatre arts program at the Thrissur School of Drama between 2005 and 2007. She completed her theatre education at the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, where she studied physical theatre for two years.[3]
Remove ads
Career
Summarize
Perspective
At Abhinaya, Kusruti made her theatre debut in Baudhayana's classic farce Bhagavadajjukam. She played the lead role of Vasantsena in the production from 2000 to 2006. The play toured across theatre festivals, including the Bharat Rang Mahotsav and the International Theatre Festival of Kerala. She rendered the part of Kamala in M. G. Jyotish's stage adaptation of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. In 2007, the production was invited to the Villeneuve en Scene Festival d'Avignon.
In 2009, after returning from her studies at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq,[3] Kusruti appeared in the anthology film Kerala Cafe, in which her performance was critically acclaimed[4][5] She appears in the segment "Island Express", directed by Shankar Ramakrishnan.
In 2010, she played a Naxalite in the Mohanlal starrer Shikkar, but her nuanced rendition of a sex worker in the 2010 film Cocktail got her noticed by mainstream audiences.
In December 2010, Kani collaborated on creating 'Las Indias', a "mega performance event" directed by the thespian and theatre pedagogist Elias Cohen. The performance was staged in a bus, that was designed for the production. The Indo-Latin American theatre company, the Singing Sticks Theatre Ensemble evolved out of Las Indias. The bus that was originally created for Las Indias, was used once again for an interactive theatre roadshow 'Tsunami Express: Highway of Hopes', which Kusruti collaborated on making.[6]
In 2011, Kani joined the renowned touring theatre company Footsbarn to work on a new production of Shakespeare's Tempest. She played Miranda in the resulting performance "The Indian Tempest".[7] After touring Ireland, Spain, France, Portugal and India,[8] the production opened at Shakespeare's Globe in 2013.[9][10]
Kusruti researched, co-developed and acted in the Indo-Polish production 'Burning Flowers - 7 Dreams of a Woman', directed by Pawel Szkotak and produced by Teatr Biuro Podróży.[11]
In 2015, Kusruti became a household presence with the soap opera Eswaran Sakshiyayi, directed by K. K. Rajeev. She played the part of Advocate Tresa, a lawyer who joins in on the investigation for her brother's murder.[3]
In 2020, upon being awarded Best Actress in Malayalam for her performance in Biriyaani, she dedicated the win to PK Rosy, the first actress in Malayalam cinema.[12]
Remove ads
Recognition and awards
- 2024 – Kusruti was a member of the jury at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival for its main competition section, "New Currents Award".[13]
- 2025 – She was appointed as a member of the jury at the 78th Locarno Film Festival for Concorso Cineasti del Presente – Filmmakers of the Present Competition.[14]
Awards
- 2020 - Best Actress (Critics-Malayalam) - Biriyaani [17]
Personal life
Kusruti is an atheist and rationalist.[19][20]
In February 2019, she revealed she quit acting due to sexual demands from filmmakers. She made serious claims against the Malayalam film industry, saying that filmmakers even approached her mother to convince her to give in to their demands. Kani chose to go back to theatre, but she was not able to earn enough in that industry to make a living. She said that the Women in Cinema Collective had given her and many other women in the industry more confidence.[21]
Remove ads
Filmography
Films
Television
Remove ads
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads