To watch Shruti Haasan's vidoes on IGTV, where she sings English "alternative pop", feels strange. We know her as legendary performer Kamal Haasan and actor Sarika's daughter. We have seen her as heroine in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films. And, though she has always been a singer, even winning best female playback in 2014 for the Telugu song, Junction Lo in Aagadu, her musical career is now playing out in a different universe.

For the last one year, Haasan, 33, has performed across London with her all-women band, comprising a cello and piano player, including at five-star club The Ned, and The Half Moon in Putney. "I was around London Bridge during the blasts. They had shut everything. I had to walk 40 minutes to take a train, in my performance clothes, carrying my gear. The only thought in my head was, 'I love singing," she says. "Nothing has come easy. You will say, 'What! You are Kamal Haasan's daughter'. But it's true. I do everything, run my life out of a London apartment. When you get home from a long day at rehearsal, the food isn't ready. No one to open the car door, cook me food, touch up my make-up. It's not like it was in India."