Pooja Hegde made her foray in Telugu cinema with Oka Laila Kosam and Mukunda, in 2014. The actress left a mark and was noticed for her performance but soon after she turned to Bollywood when she landed a lead role in Ashutosh Gowariker’s Mohenjo Daro (2016) opposite Hrithik Roshan, what she had called then a dream come true. The film took two years of her time and during that period she had to let go of several films in Telugu. But after Mohenjo Daro’s debacle Hegde changed her career plan completely by accepting films down south and refusing a lot of Hindi films. Her ‘strategy’ definitely paid off since Hegde has given quite a few hits and blockbusters in South in the last four to five years. Not just that, Hegde is a rare Telugu heroine who has worked with south superstars like Allu Arjun, Mahesh Babu, Jr NTR, and Prabhas in a short span of time. “I have been getting good and bigger films down South, so I said ‘No’ to a lot of Hindi films. Fortunately, people accepted me in Telugu cinema. My fans are very possessive about me,” says the actress.
Hegde is now awaiting the release of Radhe Shyam, a period romantic drama, co-starring Prabhas. Directed by Radha Krishna Kumar, the film shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi, revolves around a fortune-teller and a princess and how their romance blossoms. “It's a mature love story and I had to do a lot of research since it's a period film. The script attracted me. When I finished listening to the story I was like ‘Wow’. The girl has such a good role. In a commercial film to get an opportunity to play this girl who has so many shades and layers to her was very interesting. The film should be watched like a fantasy drama. I am not seen in lehenga, we are not in the Indian period setting, we are more in the European period setting which we are not used to. But I hope emotions connect with the audience. Many times, I would get the emotions right but then I had to give a shot in Hindi as well. Both Hindi and Telugu are different in their own way. These are two different films. Words have energy and the energies are so different and you can never repeat the shot again. My performance in both languages is so different sometimes,” she says.
Hegde, today, is a far bigger and more popular star in the South than in Bollywood and she accepts that it is a conscious move that she has been part of very few Hindi films in her decade old career. “I didn’t do Bollywood films because the offers were not very exciting. If someone had offered me Raazi I would have jumped at it. We are making good stuff here but the South is really thinking out-of-the-box. There are films that I refused in the South because it might be too small a role for me but some of those scripts were phenomenal. I wonder how over there they are thinking about subjects like say past life regression. They know what their audience wants. Actors know what is expected of them and that is their strength,” she says.
Hegde furthers, “Mohenjo Daro was a great debut in terms of on paper; there is no doubt about it. Hrithik Roshan was coming together with Ashutosh Gowariker after the success of their Jodha Akbar with UTV producing it. Nobody thought that it wouldn't work. But its failure pushed me to work harder. Fortunately, good things were written about me and that people wanted to see me more. When you don’t come from a filmy family, or film background where somebody is pushing you, and when your debut film doesn’t do well it takes you back a bit. If I had to change something today, I would sign a film before Mohenjo Daro released because I had got so many offers and I waited, I was also contractually bound not to sign anything else. If today I would go against that contract and sign something amazing… Well, I had to move on, I cried about it for some time. But I was really getting good films down South, so I said ‘No’ to a lot of Hindi films,” says Hegde, whose last Bollywood outing was Sajid Nadiadwala’s Housefull 4, in 2019.
“I did Housefull for the banner. It is a Nadiadwala film and I was opposite Akshay Kumar. I am glad I did it because it landed me something bigger - Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali with Salman Khan and it is a solo lead. So, every step has led me to where I am right now. But the South accepted me, loved me and gave me so much. Most importantly, they gave me strength so much that I could say ‘No’ to projects in Hindi without having to think that- ‘Oh, for two years I won’t be seen in Hindi films. I felt it was okay. Now the lines are getting blurred day by day. People saw me in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (co-starring Allu Arjun) and it was talked about everywhere. South and Hindi film industries work in different ways. In South they idol worship their stars, fan following is crazy and it has given me that pan India reach. It has been an interesting journey,” she adds.
Hegde says that language is never a barrier for her while shuffling between industries – from Telugu to Hindi to Tamil. “Now I can speak Telugu. I have been doing my own dubbing. Give me a couple of more films in Tamil and I will speak Tamil also. But more than shifting to different languages, adding different nuances to the character is far more challenging. If I am playing a Hyderabad-born modern girl, I will react very differently as compared to a modern girl born and brought up in Mumbai. I have to understand the culture to act in it. When I am doing a Telugu film the reaction of the girl looks more exaggerated and those girls genuinely do so which I have to understand. I have to understand their behaviour besides the language and memory test for my Telugu and Tamil lines. It is about how I am going to say it rather than what I am saying. Shifting between characters has been crazier, and, of course, dates wise it has been a crazy ride managing three to four films at a time,” she says.
Now, with the lines blurring, and slotting and segregating actors by virtue of the regions they belong to becoming things of the past, Hegde has a lot to benefit. “To a large extent, Baahubali has helped that. South films have been doing Rs 100 crore, 200 crore business and it is predominantly two states Andhra and Telangana which are giving that kind of revenue. Because of that repeat culture, let’s go watch that film again in the theatre. Hindi movies, of course, somebody even in London would be watching but South Indian films have been making Rs 200 crore, so you can imagine the power of cinema over there which people have now understood. I have always had tremendous respect for South films growing up. I remember watching the Kamal Haasan starrer Nayagan (1987) as a kid. As Bong Joon-ho says, if you get over that one-inch barrier of subtitles you will find there is so much interesting content out there,” says the actress.
Besides Radhe Shyam, Hegde has four releases this year including Beast, a black comedy (with Vijay Thalapathy); multi-starrer big ticket social drama Acharya (co-starring Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan and Kajal), Cirkus (Rohit Shetty directed, co-starring Ranveer Singh) and Salman Khan's comedy-drama Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali that arrives this December. “Beast is a mad ride. Vijay is one of the hardest working actors I have worked with. This is his 64th film but he still comes early to set, he is there till pack up and he doesn’t go to his vanity, he is always outside. He really lets other actors shine and makes them comfortable even though he is a superstar. He is so secure. My character has some good and impactful scenes in Cirkus. Then, I am playing a village girl in Acharya. I am playing varied characters in my releases this year and not doing just three songs and three scenes. And there is Kabhi Eid...I will be working on that character next. It is a meaty role but how do I make it my own, how do I put a little bit of Pooja in that character. It is a challenge. It is a remake of a south film but they have changed it a lot, it is becoming more of a love story now,” reveals the actress.
Obviously, Hegde is being choosy and going for meaty roles as she says that she needs to be excited coming on set, “but there are some films where my role may not be as big but I have enjoyed because we brought something special to the character,” says the actress, who likes adding bits to her character for her “personal enjoyment”. “In Most Eligible Bachelor (2021) I played a stand-up comedian which was quite challenging because how do you hit the punchline straight away when you are shooting. I observed and took inspiration from many comedians. I watched the show Marvelous Mrs Maisel many times, I watched a few documentaries on comedians and how comedy grew from time. I sat with a couple of stand-up comedians and one guy taught me how to use the mic, which is like a tool, when do they come closer to the mic, when do they go further away. It may not be seen in the film because it is a fun college love story but I did it to bring the character alive. That is how I keep myself excited,” she says, signing off.
Seema Sinha is a Mumbai-based mainstream entertainment journalist who has been covering Bollywood and television industry for over two decades. Her forte is candid tell-all interviews, news reporting and newsbreaks, investigative journalism and more. She believes in dismissing what is gossipy, casual, frivolous and fluff.
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