It’s still early days in her career, but Pooja Hegde has already struck it rich. Apart from waiting for the release of her second Telugu film Mukunda, Pooja has bagged the role of a lifetime opposite Hrithik Roshan in the Ashutosh Gowarikar directed Mohenjo Daro.
“I think when your time comes everything just falls into place. But I believe in hard work too,” she says.
The actress these days is busy hopping between Mumbai (for workshops for her Hindi film) and Hyderabad. “Even when I am at home in Mumbai I put down my bags and go for the workshop.
And then back again to Hyderabad for my Telugu film’s shooting. My mom jokes that I am living in a hostel.”
Shooting for Mohenjo Daro will start in January. Pooja says that though her co-star Hrithik is a big superstar, he doesn’t behave like one and is very down-to-earth. “He is a very sweet person and jokes a lot,” she says.
Recalling how she got the project, Pooja says that Ashutosh Gowarikar had seen her Fair and Lovely advertisement and had wanted her for the film.
At the same time, his wife Sunita saw Pooja’s scooter advertisement and enqui-red about her. “Both didn’t realise that they were discussing about the same person.
Sunita somehow got my number and called me for the audition. After that when they saw my advertisement together, Ashutosh told Sunita ‘this is the girl I am talking about’ and Sunita told him that ‘she is Pooja’.” And when Hrithik met her for the first time, he apparently said, “You are very beautiful.”
After her Telugu promotions in Hyderabad, Pooja is leaving for Mumbai for nearly six months for Mohenjo Daro. She has rejected many offers in Tollywood due to this.
Director Mani Ratnam too had approached her but she couldn’t give a commitment. “I have grown up watching Mani sir’s films and when I couldn’t do his film, I was heart broken.”
Talking about her T-Town projects, she adds, “I am nervous about Mukunda. It’s very different from Oka Laila Kosam and you will see a typical Telugu girl in me in this film.
