Pooja Hegde Birthday Special: A Look at South Star, Bollywood Career & Box Office Run

Pooja Hegde was born and raised in Mumbai. Her father, Manjunath Hegde, is a criminal lawyer, while her mother, Lata Hegde, is an entrepreneur. Her elder brother, Rishabh Hegde, is an orthopedic surgeon. The family hails from Udupi, Karnataka.

Surprisingly, Pooja Hegde is fluent in six languages — Hindi, English, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu. She often learns new languages for her films to dub her own lines.

Pooja Hegde completed her schooling at Maneckji Cooper Education Trust School and earned a Commerce degree from MMK College. A trained classical dancer, she was the runner-up at Femina Miss India South 2010.

Pooja Hegde debuted in 2012 with the South superhero hit ‘Mugamoodi’ opposite Jiiva. She later starred in ‘Oka Laila Kosam’ (2014) with Naga Chaitanya and ‘Mukunda’.

Pooja Hegde made her Bollywood debut in 2016 with Mohenjo Daro opposite Hrithik Roshan. Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, the film failed to impress and was a major box office flop.

After ‘Mohenjo Daro,’ Pooja acted in Hindi films like ‘Housefull 4,’ ‘Cirkus,’ and ‘Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan.’ Only ‘Housefull 4’ was a hit, but she got little credit.

Pooja Hegde has many South hits with stars like Allu Arjun, Prabhas, and Ram Charan. She recently did an item number in Rajinikanth’s film ‘Coolie’.