Pooja Hegde
Pooja Hegde (pronounced:; born 13 October 1990) is an Indian actress who appears predominantly in Telugu films, in addition to Hindi and Tamil films. She began her career as a model and was crowned as the second runner-up at the 2010 I Am She–Miss Universe India pageant. She made her acting debut with the Tamil film Mugamoodi (2012) and had her first Telugu release in Oka Laila Kosam (2014). Hegde went on to become one of the highest-paid actresses in South Indian Cinema.
Hegde won the SIIMA Award for Best Actress – Telugu for her performance in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020) and was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for Oka Laila Kosam and Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018). Her other commercially successful films include Duvvada Jagannadham (2017), Maharshi (2019), Gaddalakonda Ganesh (2019), Housefull 4 (2019), Most Eligible Bachelor (2021) and Beast (2022).
Contents
- 1 Early life
- 2 Career
- 2.1 Early work (2012–2017)
- 2.2 Commercial success (2018–present)
- 2.2.1 Upcoming projects
- 3 In the media
- 4 Filmography
- 5 Accolades
- 6 References
- 7 External links
Early life
Pooja Hegde was born and brought up in Mumbai, Maharashtra in a Tulu-speaking family. Her parents are Manjunath Hegde and Latha Hegde. They are originally from Udupi, Karnataka. She also has an elder brother Rishabh Hegde, who is an orthopaedic surgeon. Besides Tulu, she is fluent in Kannada, English, Hindi and Marathi. She later learnt Telugu following a career in Telugu cinema. She went to M. M. K. College, where she regularly participated in dance and fashion shows.
Hegde competed in the Miss India 2009 compe*ion, but was eliminated in an early round despite winning the Miss India Talented 2009 honour. She re-applied the following year and was the second runner-up in the Miss Universe India 2010 compe*ion, while also being crowned Miss India South Glamorous Hair 2010 in the subsidiary compe*ion.
Career
Early work (2012–2017)
Hegde in 2017Hegde made her acting debut in Mysskin's Tamil superhero film Mugamoodi (2012) opposite Jiiva, portraying the female lead character of Shakthi, a fun-loving girl who inspires the male lead to change his outlook on society. She was selected after Mysskin had seen still photographs from her pageant success, and Hegde helped practice Tamil dialogue for the film by writing and memorising words in English, adding that the similarity between Tamil and her native tongue Tulu was also useful. Prior to release, the film garnered high expectations as a result of the novel theme of a superhero in Tamil films and the film took a grand opening at the box office in August 2012. However, the film received mixed to negative reviews from critics, hampering its progress, and the film ended up becoming a surprise commercial failure. Hegde's performance also received mixed reviews with a critic from Sify.com citing that she "disappoints", though a critic from The Hindu noted "she doesn't have much scope for talent display. She earned a nomination for the Best Tamil Female Debut Actress at the 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards, but lost out to Lakshmi Menon.
Hegde's second film release, the Telugu film Oka Laila Kosam (2014), featured her opposite Naga Chaitanya. She was praised for her performance in the movie. Around the same time, she bagged the nomination for Best Actress at the 62nd Filmfare Awards (South). Following a production house and the success of the director Vijay Konda's previous venture, had prompted her to work on the project. She undertook Telugu lessons to help her portray the leading female role. In her second Telugu film, Hegde impressed many with her memorable performance in "Gopikamma" song from Mukunda (2014). It was a romantic-action tale, set in the backdrop of a village, released in late 2014.
In July 2014, Hegde agreed terms to make her Bollywood debut opposite Hrithik Roshan in Ashutosh Gowariker's period film Mohenjo Daro, set against the backdrop of the Indus Valley civilisation. She was selected after Gowariker's wife had spotted her in an adverti*t and called her to audition, which she successfully completed. As a result of her commitment to the film, she revealed that she would take a break from appearing in regional Indian movies until her Hindi film's release and rejected an opportunity to work in a film directed by Mani Ratnam. Mohenjo Daro released in 2016 which was panned by critics and became major box office flop. In 2017, she appeared in Telugu-language vigilante action comedy film Duvvada Jagannadham alongside actor Allu Arjun.
Commercial success (2018–present)
In 2018, Hegde featured in three Telugu films. The first is a special appearance in the song "Jigelu Rani" for the period action Rangasthalam. The song was trending in the YouTube and she was praised for her performance. Later in Saakshyam, alongside Bellamkonda Sreenivas and Trivikram Srinivas-directed action-drama Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava, opposite Jr. NTR. In 2019 too, she made an appearance in three films which are Maharshi, Gaddalakonda Ganesh and Housefull 4. Maharshi is a Telugu film directed by Vamsi Paidipally co-starring by Mahesh Babu. It received mixed reviews on release. Her second Telugu film in the same year was action-thriller the Harish Shankar-directed action thriller film Gaddalakonda Ganesh, a remake of the 2014 Tamil-language film Jigarthanda, featuring Varun Tej and Atharvaa along with her. Hegde returned to Bollywood after a gap of three years with Sajid Nadiadwala's comedy film directed by Farhad Samji, featuring her as Raj*ari Mala and Pooja (reincarnated), which went on to gross over ₹280 crore worldwide.
Hegde in 2020Her 2020 Telugu-language action drama film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, alongside Allu Arjun and directed by Trivikram marks their collaboration with both Arjun and Trivikram, for the second time, after DJ: Duvvada Jagannadham (2017) and Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava (2018). On her performance, a The Times of India critic wrote, "Pooja Hegde manages to bring in spunk into a character that is nothing more than a manic pixie dream girl, but she sure is a delight to watch on-screen." The film became one of the highest-grossing Telugu films of all time, grossing over ₹250 crore. Her performance fetched her several awards, including the:SIIMA Award for Best Actress – Telugu. Hegde's dance performance in the song "Butta Bomma" received wide response.
In 2021, Hegde starred in Most Eligible Bachelor, directed by Bommarillu Bhaskar opposite Akhil Akkineni in which she played the role of a stand-up comedian. In 2022, Hegde starred in the multilingual period romance film Radhe Shyam with Prabhas directed by Radha Krishna *ar. Hegde's performance received positive reviews. The film's song "Aashiqui Aa Gayi" also gained more popularity among audiences with Hegde's grace and style being appreciated. Her second film in the same year was Tamil film Beast directed by Nelson, alongside Vijay. Released on 13 April, the film marked her return to Tamil cinema after a gap of 9 years. The film became one of the highest-grossing Tamil films and was a blockbuster. Her next brief appearance was in the Koratala Siva-directed film Acharya alongside Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan.
Upcoming projects
Her upcoming projects include the Hindi film Cirkus directed by Rohit Shetty where she is playing one of the female leads opposite Ranveer Singh She will also star opposite Salman Khan's in Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali, directed by Farhad Samji, the filming of which is scheduled to begin on 25 April 2022. In addition, she will appear in Mahesh Babu and Trivikram Srinivas' next film.
In the media
Hegde is considered among the most popular actor of Telugu cinema. Hegde has frequently featured in The Times of India's listing of the "Most Desirable Woman" and the winner of the "Hyderabad Most Desirable women" of year 2017. Hegde is an active endorser for several brands and products. Hegde stood in the 7th place on Forbes India's Most Influential Stars on Instagram in South Cinema for the year 2021.
Filmography
Accolades
TotalsWins6Nominations12NoteReferences
External links
- Pooja Hegde at IMDb
- Pooja Hegde on Facebook