Shruti Sawant

Biography:

Indian actress Shruti Sawant, better known by her stage name Ineya, hails from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Her main cinematic roles are in Malayalam and Tamil. At the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, she took home the Best Actress Award for her performance in the 2011 Tamil film Vaagai Sooda Vaa.

Salahuddin S and Savithri welcomed Ineya, whose true name is Shruti Sawant, into the world in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She has a younger brother named Sravan and an older sister named Swathi who is also an actress in Malayalam television. Ineya attended Amritha Vidyalaya, Fort Girls Mission High School, and Manakkad Karthika Thirunnal High School in Thiruvananthapuram for her elementary education. She completed her correspondence-based B.B.A. course.

As a young performer, Ineya appeared in a number of Malayalam telefilms, short films, and television shows. She appeared in the telefilm Koottilekku when enrolled in class four, and thereafter Vayalar Madhavan Kutty cast her in the teleserials Orma and Sree Guruvayoorappan.

After winning the title of Miss Trivandrum in 2005, Ineya went on to model and feature in several TV commercials and award-winning Malayalam art films, such as Dr. Biju’s Saira (2006), Vijayakrishnan’s Dalamarmarangal (2009), and Umma (2011). Additionally, she was a key player in Rajesh Touchriver’s short film, The Sacred Face, which addresses child abuse.

She signed up to feature in four more Tamil films, all of which were canceled or never got released, after starring in the movie Padagasalai in 2010. She then appeared in Mysskin’s mystery thriller Yuddham Sei in a minor role as Cheran’s sister. She changed her screen name to Ineya for the role of female protagonist in director A. Sarkunam’s historical drama Vaagai Sooda Vaa (2011). Critics praised her portrayal of a tea stand owner.

Her “natural, appealing, and very expressive” qualities were described by Rediff’s Pavithra Srinivasan, who called her a “welcome find”. She portrayed a medical student and the hero’s love interest in the Mouna Guru movie, which also starred Arulnidhi. After seeing her performance in Vaagai Sooda Vaa, Bharathiraja signed her for his film Annakodiyum Kodiveeranum. However, her role was cut from the film when the script was altered.

She appeared in several quirky Malayalam films, including Radio, Ayaal, and Bhoopadathil Illatha Oridam. She made her screen debut as herself in Vikraman’s Ninaithathu Yaaro in 2014, and she then starred in Pulivaal, the Tamil adaptation of Chaappa Kurishu and Naan Sigappu Manithan, the Malayalam feature. She portrayed a dancer in Madhu Kaithapram’s Vellivelichathil (In the Limelight), her lone Malayalam film of 2014.