In a career spanning about a decade, actor Pooja Hegde has only done two Hindi films. Talking about her sporadic Bollywood career, Hegde says, “After Mohenjo Daro (2016), I waited, and after a big gap, did Housefull 4 (2019) because the banner was good. That film was a stepping stone for me. It gave me Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali and Cirkus (her upcoming Hindi movies).”

Quiz her if she was unsatisfied with the offers coming her way, and the 31-year-old says, “It was a conscious decision to not do Hindi films. I didn’t want to do them just for the sake of it or do roles that didn’t matter to the storyline. I’ve been offered films opposite big stars, but those characters didn’t add any value to the script.”

During her time away from Bollywood, she worked intensively in the Tamil and Telugu film industries and created a fanbase for herself, which she believes gave her the confidence to navigate through her Hindi film career.

“My biggest boon is that the Telugu audience has accepted me as one of their own. The south has given me so much respect. And that gave me strength to pick and choose the films I wanted to do in Hindi. Sometimes, it (Bollywood) can be a little unforgiving if you aren’t from a film background or you don’t have the right push; it takes some time to get the kinds of roles that you want to do,” Hegde elaborates.

But the Radhe Shyam actor is happy that she is taken more seriously today. “After Most Eligible Bachelor (2021) did well at the box office, people began to take me more seriously and began to think that I’m more bankable because it grossed Rs. 50 crore. Now, I’m getting a lot of female-oriented films,” Hegde wraps up.

Actor Pooja Hegde is happy that amid the uncertainty that the Coronavirus pandemic brought along, her latest Telugu film managed to have a theatrical release. The movie, Most Eligible Bachelor, starring Hegde alongside actor Akhil Akkineni, managed to rake in the moolah at the box office, as well.

Calling it their “first win”, Hegde says, “Kudos to the producers for having faith [in releasing the film in the cinemas]. They had their own streaming platform; it is so easy to give in and release the film on OTT. But they had faith in the film. Releasing a film in theatres today is very different. It’s great that they held on to it. It brought back people to watch a film in theatres,” feels the 31-year-old.

Ask her if she feels that releasing a film theatrically has become more like a privilege, given the uncertainty, and she feels otherwise. “I feel it is an option. You need to know what will bring people to the theatres. If you feel taking an OTT deal is better, that’s your call. As artistes, we have different things that make us happy. We have different goals, compared to the producers. I feel the reach of OTT is great, but there are some films you need to watch on the big screen, it’s just the energy in the room,” says the Mohenjo Daro (2016) actor.

Hegde feels catching a movie at a theatre requires a plan and an outing, and the experience cannot be replicated at home. “You watch the film and immerse yourself into that world. You laugh a little and forget everything else. That’s something the theatre can do. I do feel that watching a film in a theatre today is a privilege,” says the actor.

Hegde is currently on a professional high, with major films, such as Cirkus with actor Ranveer Singh, Radhe Shyam with Bahubali star Prabhas, and Bhaijaan with actor Salman Khan, among others, in her kitty. Happy with the way things are for her, professionally, she says, “The industry has led me to the right place. I selected the right scripts. Somewhere, it all paid off.”

Had everything worked out as planned, Pooja Hegde would have displayed her skills as a stand-up comedian by now. No, the actress wasn’t planning on doing a stand-up comedy show on stage for a live audience, she’s playing a standup comedian in the Telugu film, Most Eligible Bachelor. Reportedly, the casting for the romantic comedy, written and directed by Bhaskar, was done after the makers auditioned about 100 actresses and models for two of the female central characters.

Talking about her prep for the part, Pooja, who will be seen in Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus, Prabhas’ Radhe Shyam and a few other films across languages (Hindi, Tamil and Telugu), says, “It is so tough to play a stand-up comedian on camera because normally, comedians have a set to perform for an hour, which they have practiced and rehearsed over a period. In the film, one had to build the joke and the punchlines to encapsulate the essence of a standup comedy show. The film is not about the show, so you are not at liberty to show an entire comedy set. Doing stand-up comedy for a film is tough. I met so many stand-up comics and tried to understand how they prepare their punches and how they use the mic to create a certain effect when they are on stage. I mean, it takes a different skill set for the comedians to achieve that.”

Most Eligible Bachelor went on floors in July 2019 and major portions of the film were shot in New York in mid-January 2020. The shooting came to a halt towards March when Akhil Akkineni, who plays the film’s male protagonist, was injured during a schedule in India. The shoot was further delayed due the Coronavirus pandemic and resumed in September 2020.

Surely, the Coronavirus lockdown period stopped people in their tracks. But actor Pooja Hegde can be called an exception because since November last year, the actor has been out and about, travelling constantly to places such as Italy, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ooty.

“Just the other day, my make-up artiste pointed out to me that since things have opened, we have taken over 15 flights. So, it has been crazy. But I am not complaining at all. It is really exciting,” says Hegde, who has just wrapped up a schedule of Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus with Ranveer Singh.

“It’s been amazing, and Ranveer’s comic timing is also great. For someone like me, who is like a baby in the industry, I was just sitting on set and kind of absorbing everything,” says the actor, who made her Bollywood debut with Mohenjo Daro (2016).

Going forward, Hedge also has Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali with Salman Khan, Prabhas-starrer Radhe Shyam and a Telugu biggie, Most Eligible Bachelor alongside Akhil Akkineni. “I have always wanted to balance out my career between the two industries (Telugu and Hindi) and 2021 is looking like that as I have two Telugu films and Hindi films each,” says the actor, adding that she is grateful to be a ‘pan-India actor’.

“I’ve always wanted to be like an ‘Indian’ actress. I don’t think language is a barrier. I want to squeeze in more languages like may be do a Tamil film next year which I have been offered. I don’t want to be boxed in any way,” she says.

But can doing films in multiple languages lead to overexposure? “I don’t think so. Such things aren’t usually said for male actors so I don’t know why it’s said for female ones. In Hindi, I’ve had two releases so I am still new here,” says Hegde, who has “an idea in mind” vis-a-vis the next five years but she doesn’t “want to say anything and jinx it”. Hegde is now looking forward to working with Khan. She says, “Whenever I have met Salman, he has always been warm. So, I want to know what its like to be with him on a set of a film.“

In October, Pooja Hegde was in Italy with Prabhas for their love story Radhe Shyam, at a time when the country was going through a second surge of Coronavirus cases. The actress admits that shooting in the midst of a pandemic was a new experience. “We lived in a different world before this. The way we greet someone has changed today and also the way we film. We were getting tested every five days, it’s amazing we could pull off a schedule in such difficult times,” she marvels.

Prod her on the Bahubali star, and she describes him as “fun” and “goofy”. “The producers are his friends, so, Prabhas was in a comfortable place and not as shy as he appears in his interviews,” she chuckles.

Pooja had a big hit in Housefull 4 last year, and just before the rogue virus ran riot, bagged Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali (KEKD), as Salman Khan’s leading lady. Has the pandemic and the subsequent shutdown slowed down the momentum? “The break was forced on every one, so, it was never just about me. It brought the whole world to a standstill, it was like we were in a Black Mirror episode,” she reasons, adding that while cooped up at home, she learnt cooking and playing the guitar. “I saw the entire B R Chopra’s Mahabharat and took away many lessons. I also got into yoga and it changed my perspective towards life. I worked on myself, internally rather than externally.”

Pooja’s been doing a lot of travelling since restrictions were relaxed with SOPs in place, and reveals that a few days ago, while cleaning out her bag, she found four boarding passes. “In retrospect, it seems insane that I have been travelling during such times. I’m fortunate I was able to stay safe with regular testing. It’s a reality check!” she shudders.

The actress has an enviable line-up of Hindi, Telugu and Pan-India films that are also very different. In Most Eligible Bachelor (MEB) she plays a stand-up comic while Radhe Shyam’s Prerna is a serious, mature girl. Besides KEKD with Salman, there’s also Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus with Ranveer Singh. “I’ve worked in several Telugu films and have been accepted by that industry as one of their own. Being from Mumbai, I love Hindi films. It feels good to be able to work in both languages because I always wanted to be known as an Indian actress,” she asserts.

She points out that a film is a film no matter where it’s made. “That’s how even a Parasite could win an Oscar. Its director said that if you can overcome the one-inch barrier of subtitles, you can explore amazing content,” she reminds, pointing out that when Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo released digitally, the song “Butta Bomma” got 450 million views with even David Warner grooving to it. “Language is no longer a barrier.”

Having made her Hindi film debut opposite Hrithik Roshan in Mohenjo Daro, and with films with A-listers like Prabhas, Salman and Ranveer, Pooja is on a dream run. “I believe luck is created when opportunity meets hard work,” she philosophises, admitting that it hasn’t been easy coming from a non-filmi background and having to swim against the tide most of the time. “I still have a long way to go.”

And while Prabhas is “goofy”, Ranveer is a “ball of energy” and Salman “the coolest person in town, real and rare” for the actress. She is currently juggling three different characters and two different languages. “Even if you give an amazing take for Radhe Shyam in Telugu, you have to do it again in Hindi,” she laughs.

Pooja also has a connection with period films. Mohenjo Daro was set in 2016 BC, Housefull 4 juggled between the past and the present while Radhe Shyam is set in ’80s Europe and Gaddalakonda Ganesh in an Andhra village in the same decade. Buzz is, even Cirkus is set in 1968. “Some actors go about their entire career without doing a period film while I’ve already done so many,” says a proud Pooja, who having recently wrapped up the first schedule of Cirkus in Mumbai, is now shooting for MEB in Hyderabad. “The day after I complete this schedule, I move to Prabhas’s set, also in Hyderabad. I will shoot for Radhe Shyam till December 25, after which I will return to MEB. Then, it’s back to Prabhas’s film from January 2,” she rattles off, adding that it’s satisfying to be so tired that the moment you hit the bed, you fall asleep. No plans of a vacation? “Getting even one day to breathe in between will be a vacation right now,” she signs off with a laugh.