Mysuru/Mysore: A rebel who set out to do something different in a field she had no experience about, this Mysuru girl dropped out of her Mechanical Engineering course to try something different.

That’s how the journey of Shruti Naidu, the well-known face of television today, started two decades ago. One of the top-ranking directors, she is known as the Ekta Kapoor of Kannada television and has directed popular serials like ‘Brahmagantu’, ‘Shrirasthu Shubhamasthu’, ‘Punarvivaha’, ‘Mahanadhi’, ‘Mahadevi’ and also produced many serials under the banner Shruti  Naidu Productions.

Having set foot on entertainment industry, she first assisted TV commercials producer M.G. Satya which opened an avenue for her in television industry. It was ETV which gave her a break, asking her to host a cookery show, which she took up as a challenge though she hadn’t cooked anything at home. From being just an anchor, she went on to design the sets, invited people from different walks of life to the show and direct the show too.

Shruti had started acting by then and got a lot of accolades for her role in the serial ‘Preethi illada mele’, starring as Anant Nag’s wife. A lot of acting offers came her way but she was looking at donning the Director’s hat.

A chance to direct a part of a scene in one of the serials opened up the doors for her directorial venture. Shruti is also credited with bringing film stars on to the small screen with her first directorial serial ‘Chi Sou Savitri’. From then it has been stringing successes. She recently turned producer too with the Jaggesh-starrer film ‘Premier Padmini’ which received huge appreciation.

After seven years of directing serials, Shruti has no qualms of accepting that serials go on forever. Yes, initially I thought viewers had no choice but to watch what we give. But I have realised this is what they want to see. There are so many negative comments about never-ending serials. But do you realise that these very people actually don’t stop seeing them. They loathe, criticise, jab but still watch. As long as we have the TRPs going, we will continue to add on to the story. Yes, sometimes we may change the flow a bit based on viewers’ reaction.

Shruti is always on the lookout for starting something new and she feels getting back to her Geetha Road days in Mysuru is what it’s going to be.

A foodie herself, she is setting up a restaurant called ‘Mysore Mirchi’ on Jayalakshmi Vilas Road near Ramaswamy Circle. The hotel will serve authentic veg and non-veg dishes of South India. The restaurant is scheduled to be opened on Feb.18 by ‘Challenging Star’ Darshan and MLC Sandesh Nagaraj, who is also a well-known film producer from Mysuru.

Knowing her penchant for adding style to whatever she does, the new restaurant promises to be different in what it has to offer and how it will.