“When Mohenjo Daro didn't do well, it pulled me back a little bit,” says Pooja Hegde

Today, Pooja Hegde has established herself as one of the most sought-after actresses in Indian cinema. Not just in South cinema, but the actress is in huge demand in Bollywood as well. She is presently working on Cirkus, a Rohit Shetty directorial with Ranveer Singh and Jacqueline Fernandez. She will soon commence work on Sajid Nadiadwala’s next production Bhaijaan with Salman Khan.

There is no denying the fact that today Bollywood is ready to accept the talented actress with open arms, but the scene was completely different when she debuted in Hindi cinema with Ashutosh Gowariker’s Mohenjo Daro (2016) opposite none other than Hrithik Roshan. Critics heavily panned the film which eventually ended up putting a poor show at the box office.

Five years after the debacle of the big-budgeted historical drama, Hegde has opened about how she felt when her debut film in Bollywood did not work with the audience. “I always feel that when you are not a star kid, your first film becomes highly important and the fate of the film becomes even more important. People are watching your film like an audition in a way and judging if you can act or not and how is your screen presence. Based on that, you get the second film. When the film did not do well, it pulled me back a little bit, but I did not let that stop me from doing my work. I continued pushing forward, working in films down South,” she said in her recent interview.

She goes on to add that the dismal performance of Mohenjo Daro did set her back, but today she deals with failure differently. “It is constant self-talk that I have with myself and try not to get too bogged down by failures. I give myself only 15 minutes to cry about it – you can do whatever you have to, punch a pillow – but after 15 minutes, it is done. That’s something I follow religiously,” she says in conclusion.