Kani Kusruti

Kani Kusruti was born in Cheruvakkal, a small village in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, to social activist parents Jayasree A. K. and Maitreya Maitreyan. Her parents had dropped their last names to erase the social hierarchy marker that comes with last names in India. At 15, she invented her last name "Kusruti" (meaning "mischievous" in Malayalam) to fill in a requirement in her class 10th exam application. She grew up in Thiruvananthapuram, where she got introduced to the Abhinaya Theatre Research Centre.^[1][2]

Kusruti later moved to Thrissur, where she enrolled in the theatre arts program at the Thrissur School of Drama between 2005 and 2007. She completed her theatre education at the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, where she studied physical theatre for two years.^[3]

At Abhinaya, Kusruti made her theatre debut in Baudhayana's classic farce Bhagavadajjukam. She played the lead role of Vasantsena in the production from 2000 to 2006. The play toured across theatre festivals, including the Bharat Rang Mahotsav and the International Theatre Festival of Kerala. She rendered the part of Kamala in M. G. Jyotish's stage adaptation of Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. In 2007, the production was invited to the Villeneuve en Scene Festival d'Avignon.

In 2009, after returning from her studies at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq,^[3] Kusruti appeared in the anthology film Kerala Cafe, in which her performance was critically acclaimed^[4][5] She appears in the segment "Island Express", directed by Shankar Ramakrishnan.

In 2010, she played a Naxalite in the Mohanlal starrer Shikkar, but her nuanced rendition of a sex worker in the 2010 film Cocktail got her noticed by mainstream audiences.

In December 2010, Kani collaborated on creating 'Las Indias', a "mega performance event" directed by the thespian and theatre pedagogist Elias Cohen. The performance was staged in a bus, that was designed for the production. The Indo-Latin American theatre company, the Singing Sticks Theatre Ensemble evolved out of Las Indias. The bus that was originally created for Las Indias, was used once again for an interactive theatre roadshow 'Tsunami Express: Highway of Hopes', which Kusruti collaborated on making.^[6]

In 2011, Kani joined the renowned touring theatre company Footsbarn to work on a new production of Shakespeare's Tempest. She played Miranda in the resulting performance "The Indian Tempest".^[7] After touring Ireland, Spain, France, Portugal and India,^[8] the production opened at Shakespeare's Globe in 2013.^[9][10]

Kusruti researched, co-developed and acted in the Indo-Polish production 'Burning Flowers - 7 Dreams of a Woman', directed by Pawel Szkotak and produced by Teatr Biuro Podróży.^[11]

In 2015, Kusruti became a household presence with the soap opera Eswaran Sakshiyayi, directed by K. K. Rajeev. She played the part of Advocate Tresa, a lawyer who joins in on the investigation for her brother's murder.^[3]

In 2020, upon being awarded Best Actress in Malayalam for her performance in Biriyaani, she dedicated the win to PK Rosy, the first actress in Malayalam cinema.^[12]

• 2024 – Kusruti was a member of the jury at the 2024 Busan International Film Festival for its main competition section, "New Currents Award".^[13]
• 2025 – She was appointed as a member of the jury at the 78th Locarno Film Festival for Concorso Cineasti del Presente – Filmmakers of the Present Competition.^[14]

Kusruti is an atheist and rationalist.^[22][23]

Kusruti resides in Goa with her friends.^[24][25] She has publicly identified with feminist perspectives and has spoken on social and political issues, including gender equality and civil liberties.^[26][27] She has also criticised sexism in the Malayalam film industry.^[28][29]