Actress Pooja Hegde has carved a niche for herself with her girl-next-door image. The multi-lingual star who has worked in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil films is best remembered for blockbuster hits such as Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava, Maharshi, and Most Eligible Bachelor while also expanding her pan-India image with films like Mohenjo-daro, Housefull 4 and Radhe Shyam. This time, she expands her fan-base with the Salman Khan starrer Hindi film Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, also known as KKBKKJ. The action film directed by Farhad Samji is a remake of the Tamil film Veera (2014) and features a star-studded cast of Venkatesh, Pooja Hegde, and Jagapathi Babu, with additional supporting actors. The story follows Bhaijaan (Salman Khan), a self-defense trainer, who uses violence to settle disputes, but decides to change his ways for his girlfriend Bhagyalaxmi (Pooja). However, Bhaijaan soon discovers that Bhagyalaxmi’s family is in trouble due to their past rivalry with a rowdy “Anna”, and he sets out to protect them without their knowledge.
The film promises high-octane drama, roll-up sleeves stunts and actors raising the entertainment quotient with peppy dance and music acts. We speak to Pooja about playing the winsome Telugu girl Bhagyalaxmi. “Oh she’s absolutely fun, a little loud, lovable, quirky and very free-spirited. I relate with many of her traits like having a childlike innocence. She is from a joint family and I also belong to a big family where we all were in touch with one another. We are very up to date about what’s going on in each other’s life in real,” the actress says. Pooja was raised in Mumbai but comes from a Tulu-speaking family from Karnataka.
Her extensive exposure to various film industries and fluency in English, Hindi, and Marathi have contributed to her being a multicultural star, with fans both in the South and the Northern regions of the country. She tells us how multiculturalism shaped her on a personal level, “I think it has made me feel wholesome, where I can connect to different film industries. I am open to accepting the sensibilities of different cultures. As an actor, I understand different people and easily get where t h e y c o m e from. It is amazing to see how diverse India is and at the same time is able to coexist with one another.”
KKBKKJ is running in theatres.
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