Pooja Hegde is an actress who established herself in Tollywood quickly but with much effort. The actress who was called "not-so-promising" for her debut is now among the most demanded actresses.
Pooja Hegde grew up in a family that nurtured her innocence. She is a girl who believed in Santa Claus and wrote letters to him occasionally as a child. Being brought up in an academically driven family, she was intelligent and an active participant in sports & extracurricular activities. Pooja is fond of cricket & tennis, and Rahul Dravid & Roger Federer are her favourites.
In her college days, she got into dance and modelling and went for inter-college competitions a lot. She also helped her mother in her network marketing business which helped her improve her networking skills.
Pooja entered the Femina Miss India beauty pageant in 2009 and got evicted early on. She tried again at Miss India Universe 2010 and became the second runner-up and won the title of Miss Glamorous Hair.
Her pictures from the pageant caught the attention of Myskin, and she bagged the role in Mugamoodi.
Pooja was expecting her debut to be mind-blowing as the audiences were excited about the movie. It didn't work at the box office, and she got mixed to mostly negative reviews from the critics. This was heartbreaking for Pooja. She remembered Oprah once said that post any setback, take fifteen minutes to deal with it and after that, move on. She did the same.
After this, she garnered the appreciation she was craving when she did her second film in the Telugu industry. That boosted her confidence and lifted her.
Ashutosh was looking for a fresh face for his movie Mohenjo Daro at the time. Pooja Hegde appeared in an advertisement with Ranbir Kapoor. Ashutosh's wife spotted her and insisted her husband cast her in the film.
When Ashutosh met her, he found her to be perfect for the role. She showed the right amount of innocence, grace, strength, and dignity demanded by the script.
The contract she signed barred her from signing any other films in Bollywood till the movie's release. She was again hoping that the movie would prove to be pivotal for her. She was hoping to do a light romantic genre for her next Bollywood movie. But she faced disappointment when the movie flopped.
This hurt her more than her debut's failure, and she decided to conquer Bollywood later when she'll get a strong & sturdy script. Until then, she went back to the South industry and established herself as a successful actress in a very short time.
She makes it a point that she enjoys her time on the sets, even on the most boring days. In her goofy ways, she keeps herself in charge of her happiness and makes people around her happy.
When on-screen, no matter how much time she gets, Pooja tries to make her performance impactful. Her only goal then is that she makes optimal use of her given screen time. When she chooses a film, the relationships with the director, co-stars, producer, etc., play a role and whether she wishes to work with someone or not.
There are a few directors in the industry with whom she wants to work desperately. She trusts their work so much that she doesn't feel the need to listen to the script. This is one of the reasons why she accepted the offer of working in Cirkus when Rohit Shetty approached. She didn't even bother asking who her co-star was.
In between, rumours of her throwing tantrums on sets started doing rounds. Her co-stars came forward to clarify things and told the media that she's among the most punctual and easy-going actresses.
Pooja is always humbled when she sees the passion of her fans for her. She gets encouraged to do better every time she hears that someone drove two hours, spent their pocket money to watch her film.
Once, a fan travelled to Mumbai and slept on the road for five days just to meet her. She met that person, and though the gesture touched her, she explained to him that this is not necessary to meet just an actor.
Pooja launched her foundation, All About Love, with an intent to help people. She has collaborated with a hospital in Mangalore where she supports children with artificial limbs undergoing treatment. Before the foundation, Pooja has been doing the same.
She has been taking care of the expenditures of the children diagnosed with cancer. She is also supporting families financially whose sole breadwinner died due to any accident. During the lockdown, she distributed ration to wage earners for a month.
Pooja Hegde is an actress who has created her niche in the industry and is now expanding pan India. She shows talent and calibre to make it bigger than she already has. Her recent blockbuster movie is Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. Watch all Pooja Hedge's movies on ZEE5.
