Shruti Haasan Transforms in Visceral ‘Monster Machine’ Video

At the core of it, everything Shruti Haasan does is metal. Sure, her latest single “Monster Machine” – produced by Karan Parikh and Karan Kanchan – could be pegged as having industrial rock influences at best, but the music video sees the singer-composer and actor being perhaps the most intense version of herself. 

The video is directed by Chennai filmmaker Dwarkesh Prabakar and shot by DOP Bhuvan Gowda (whose credits include visual blockbusters like KGF) and is produced by the art label BLCK, founded by Haasan and visual artist Santanu Hazarika. Inspired by the videos of acts like Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson, Haasan is seen in different looks, finally unleashing a pitch-black drenched writhing monster. 

By her own admission, Haasan is not a metal musician in the sense that she plays guitar riffs or screams. She adds, “I’m metal as they get in my heart. My energy,  everything is just driven by heavy metal. Like, I start my day with metal most of the days.” 

“I think I’m in my phase of unbridled emotional violence, if that makes sense,” Haasan says about the lyrical and visual intent of her latest release. To narrow it down, though, “Monster Machine” is a love song to herself, acknowledging she has a monster inside of her. Haasan says, “And instead of hiding it, I play with it. I actually bring that monster out for all of you to see.” 

The visual metaphors include the archetypal witch. “Who, in every generation, has been burned at the stake. Now it’s more metaphoric, but it’s happening, without a doubt,” she adds. 

With Parikh and Kanchan on board as producers, the sound of “Monster Machine” also transforms like the visuals, into a “big Indian crescendo” with folk rhythms that draw from dhol and thavil. “We kind of added that whole cinematic theme to it, because I knew that I wanted a video that was very visually strong in its narrative. The visual was always driving it,” she says. 

At the end of it, the project became an amalgamation of bringing in Indian cinema’s key influences like Gowda and making it part of Indian independent music. She adds about upcoming music,  “It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. And I’m doing it more consistently now, and will become more consistent.” 

Watch the video for “Monster Machine” below.