National Award-winning actor Keerthy Suresh, widely regarded as the next big South import in Bollywood after Nayanthara, opened up about the power of mentorship in a deeply personal conversation during a recent industry forum. Keerthy is currently carving her space in the pan India landscape with projects spanning Tamil, Telugu, and now Hindi cinema.

In her address, Keerthy shared an honest reflection on why mentors matter, especially in a creative industry:”I think it’s very, very important to have a right mentor, a right guidance. You know, sometimes you do need somebody for validation. I think everybody. And choosing them, I think, you know, it depends. I think you need to cross a lot of trials and errors. And you will figure out in the process that who is your mentor. And I think, in the process, I think we’ll definitely fall in place. At the end of the day, everyone will have one mentor at some point in their life.”

She went on to express her deep gratitude to veteran filmmaker Priyadarshan, who directed her debut film Geethaanjali in 2013.”My mentor is Priyadarshan Sir. I started off my career with him. He was the one who introduced me into movies. He is also my sister’s guru because she is with him for about 10 years or more, something like assistant director. Priyadarshan Sir is both of our gurus. And I cannot tell you how much we both have learned from him.”

As Keerthy continues her unstoppable rise with Revolver Rita, Akka, and multiple Telugu biggies and hindi projects, her grounded outlook and gratitude make her one of the most admired names of her generation.