Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 21, 2020)

On March 13, a ‘masked’ Pooja Hegde flew off to Europe for a schedule of her yet-untitled film with Prabhas, a period love story being directed by Radha Krishna Kumar. After filming for three days in Tbilisi in Georgia in the midst of the Coronavirus scare, the makers decided to halt the shoot for the safety of the cast and crew and returned to India on Wednesday.

“We collectively decided to pack-up and get back,” informs the actress. Quiz her on the precautions they took on the sets and while in transit, she says, “My team and I were extremely careful. We kept sanitising our hands, wore face masks and maintained distance from people.”

Buzz is, they canned a fight sequence featuring Prabhas in a flea market with Pooja joining him later for the romantic scenes. Without divulging details, she says, “It is going to be one beautiful love story. Even though it’s a period film, the romance is very fresh and mature.” With the shoot being called off abruptly, a major chunk remains to be canned. “There’s loads more left to shoot. The producers are yet to plan the new locations.”

Next up for Pooja, who was recently seen opposite Akshay Kumar in Housefull 4, is Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali with Salman Khan. The actress is obviously ecstatic to be doing a film with the actor and can’t wait to start shooting towards the year-end. “It’s going to be one huge film,” she promises.

She kicked off her Bollywood career with Mohenjo Daro alongside Hrithik Roshan and down South too, has worked with big names like Mahesh Babu, Ram Charan, Allu Arjun and Prabhas. “I always wanted to be an Indian actress, not restraining myself to one language,” she states.