Actress Pooja Hegde currently has projects announced and rolling in the Tamil, Telugu and Hindi film industries. The actress says that being part of big budget films and high expectations from fans make her nervous. However, her reasons to feel jittery change with every industry.
In Bollywood, Pooja will be seen alongside superstar Salman Khan in “Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali” and with Ranveer Singh in “Cirkus”. In Tollywood, she has “Radhe Shyam” alongside Prabhas and in Tamil, the actress will be seen with Vijay in “Beast”.
Talking to IANS about how she deals with these expectations which come with taking big leaps with her choice of films, the actress says: “Does it make me nervous? Yes. I think with every industry my reason of nervousness changes. With Telugu now, with ‘Radhe Shyam’, my role is fantastic. There is a lot of scope for me. So, with Telugu I want to know how the audience thinks I perform. So, my nervousness is that I give my heart and soul into my performance for this film.”
The actress, who made her film debut with Tamil film “Mugamoodi” (2012), eventually went on to give many blockbusters in Telugu films too. She made her Hindi debut with director Ashutosh Gowariker’s “Mohenjo Daro”.
Further elaborating on what kind of nervousness she feels with Hindi and Tamil industry, Pooja says: “With ‘Cirkus’ and ‘Kabhie Eid Kabhi Diwali’, I feel that I have so much to show to the Hindi audience of who I am and that is something, which is making me nervous. With Tamil, the nervousness if very different because it’s a new market for me and now I am going back after many years. So, the nervousness is different.”
She also feels that coming from a non-filmy background affects how she looks at every film.
“When you come from a non-filmy background, the whole thing is whatever film you have, becomes like a golden treasure. It’s like you have found treasure and you need to make the most of the role you have been given in the film and hope that it helps you in capturing people’s attention. Unfortunately, I am a classic example of an over thinker but I think nervous energy is good,” shares the actress.
From Allu Arjun, Mahesh Babu, Akshay Kumar to now Salman Khan and Vijay, Pooja has worked with the most bankable actor in the film industries across India.
Does having popular co-stars affect her craft?
“I think it would affect my craft because a lot of acting is reacting. So, when they bring in their years of experience, it kind of helps me understand my craft more, it helps me may be perform better,” she says.
“It’s also about learning other things, which are not directly related to acting like tips about the way they lead their lives. For me, it’s always about learning something new, besides acting also. So, it’s always been a mix of everything and it has made me a better actor for sure.”
