Pooja Hegde opens up about her role in the Salman Khan-starrer Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, and her multilingual career choices.
Pooja Hegde is back on the big screen with her second successive Bollywood film in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. The actress plays the lead opposite Salman Khan in the action entertainer, which released in theatres today (April 21). In an exclusive chat with DNA prior to the film’s release, Pooja opened up about her role, playing a Telugu girl, and being Salman Khan’s heroine.
Pooja was born in Mumbai in a Tulu-speaking family. She made her acting debut in a Tamil film but over the years, the greatest success she has found has been in Telugu cinema. In fact, even in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, she is playing a Telugu girl. “Because I have been doing so many Telugu films, I feel like somewhere it has prepared me for this role. I know the world, I know the characteristics of a Telugu girl. It’s so ingrained in me that it definitely helped me. Also, when I started, I did not know Telugu but I have learnt the language and now, if I had to add a line spontaneously, I could do it much more easily. But whether it’s a Hindi film or a Telugu film, at the end of the day, I end up playing a Telugu girl,” the actress says with a laugh.
Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan stars Salman, one of the biggest stars of the country. As a mass action film, it rests largely on the shoulders of the hero. Talking about how she ensured her role was important to the film and not incidental, Pooja says, “The character Bhagyalakshmi is so integral to the film in terms of why Salman sir is doing what he is. She is the jaan (life) of the film. It’s really an honour to have an integral part in a film like Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. At the end of the day, it is a Salman Khan film. You know that it will reach the masses and I have such a beautiful role in it, for which I am thankful to Salman sir.”
In her last five films, Pooja has starred opposite Salman, Ranveer Singh, Ram Charan, Vijay, and Prabhas, some of the most popular leading men in Indian cinema. When you point this out, a flustered Pooja responds, “I had not imagined this life at all. I was a complete nerd and I am here now, doing Zoom interviews. Life is crazy.”
But this filmography has also meant that she has worked across industries and languages, never giving successive films in one industry for long over the last few years. Explaining this, she says, “I will go where the work is good. Now, language is no longer that much of an issue. People are watching all films, whether it’s Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Gujarati, or Marathi. It’s not like that language is a barrier anymore. You just have to do good work and connect with more people and the film will automatically find its way into people’s hearts.”
Directed by Farhad Samji, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan also stars Venkatesh Daggubati, Jagapathi Babu, Jassie Gill, Raghav Juyal, Siddharth Nigam, Shehnaaz Gill, Palak Tiwari, and Vinali Bhatnagar.
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 "Salman Khan and Pooja Hegde in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan")
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