Kani Kusruti

Biography:

The actress and model Kani Kusruti is from India. Her critically lauded performance in the film Kerala Cafe brought her initial notoriety in 2009. Kani’s portrayal of Khadeeja in the movie Biriyaani earned her the Best Actress Award at the Moscow International Film Festival as well as the Best Actress Award at the Kerala State Film Awards in 2020.

Dr. Jayasree AK, Kusruti’s mother, is a social activist and community medicine specialist who frequently appears as a guest on talk shows and lectures at Pariyaram Medical College. In Kerala, her father Maitreya Maitreyan has spearheaded and supported multiple human rights campaigns.

Model and actress Kani Kusruti is from India. Her appearance in the highly acclaimed film Kerala Cafe brought her initial notoriety in 2009.  Kani was awarded Best Actress at the Kerala State Film Awards in 2020 and Best Actress at the Moscow International Film Festival for her role in the movie Biriyaani as Khadeeja.

After that, she relocated to Thrissur, where she studied theater arts from 2005 to 2007 at the Thrissur School of Drama. She studied physical theater for two years at the L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, where she completed her training in theater.

Kusruti debuted on stage at Abhinaya in the traditional farce Bhagavadajjukam by Baudhayana. From 2000 until 2006, she portrayed Vasantsena in the major role. The piece traveled to several theater festivals, such as the International Theatre Festival of Kerala and the Bharat Rang Mahotsav. In M. G. Jyotish’s stage version of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, she played the role of Kamala. The show received an invitation to the 2007 Villeneuve en Scene Festival d’Avignon.

She describes herself as rationalist and atheist.  She disclosed on February 19, 2019, that she left performing because of sexual demands made by filmmakers. The actress has now leveled grave accusations against the Malayalam cinema business. Remarkably, Kani has stated that filmmakers even spoke with her mother to persuade her to comply with their requests. Kani decided to return to theater, but her income in that field was insufficient to support her.

However, in light of the #MeToo Movement and initiatives such as Women in Cinema Collective, Kani remains optimistic about the Malayalam cinema industry. In response to lynching incidences in the nation, Kusruti and 48 other well-known musicians wrote an open letter to Narendra Modi in 2019.