Actress Pooja Hegde said that while she enjoys being a part of the movie world, she has seen both, the ups and downs in her journey so far.
Pooja Hegde made her acting debut with the Tamil film, Mugamoodi opposite Jiiva in 2012 and her first Telugu release was Naga Chaitanya starrer, Oka Laila Kosam in 2014. Over the years, the actress has established herself as one of the most popular leading ladies in the South film industry.
However, despite having her roots in Mangalore, Pooja, who was born and brought up in Mumbai, had to face linguistic difficulties during her initial days in the Tamil and Telugu industries.
In a recent interview with Indian Express, the Cirkus actress recalled, “The first day I got my Telugu lines, I was like, ‘Ok, oh my God.’ I am a Mangalorean; we speak Tulu and Telugu is very different. So, when I got the lines, I had to mug them up, understand where to take pauses, have an assistant director say the lines, which I would record and keep playing on loop until I got the groove and have memorised. Now I can speak Telugu and feel if you give me 10 lines in Spanish, I would be able to learn it and emote it. It has made me a tougher actor for sure.”
Pooja said that while she never felt disoriented working in Tamil and Telugu movies, her early days in the South film industry were ‘difficult’.
Elaborating on it, she explained, “It was difficult in the sense that getting the right films took some time. My journey hasn’t been of someone who had one hit and what followed was smooth sailing. There have been highs and lows, there was a year when no work came to me and then suddenly work started flowing. I have seen all of that, which is why when today something is successful, I also remember the times when it wasn’t. That phase set me up to be the actor that I am today, because at that time when my films didn’t do well, I moved on, ushered through it.”
Calling her ten-year journey in the film industry a roller coaster ride, the Beast actress said, “Once you get off that roller coaster ride, your hair is a mess, but you have had a great time and have that smile plastered on your face and you say, ‘Let’s do this again.’ This is exactly what I feel about my journey.”
Currently, Pooja is awaiting the release of her upcoming film, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan in which she is paired opposite Bollywood superstar Salman Khan. The film is helmed by Farhad Samji.
