Hyderabad: Pooja Hegde is an Indian actress who has worked in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films. She debuted in acting with the Tamil film Mugamoodi (2012) and later made her Telugu debut with Oka Laila Kosam (2014). Her Bollywood debut was Mohenjo Daro (2016) opposite Hrithik Roshan.
In Tollywood, Pooja achieved stardom after delivering a string of hits such as DJ, Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava, Maharshi, and Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. She became one of the highest-paid actresses and won critical acclaim too.
However, things have not been going well for Pooja Hegde in 2022 and 2023. She had several flops in past couple of years– Radhe Shyam, Beast, Acharya, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan and even some projects that were expected to take her career to the next level didn’t work out for various reasons. For instance:
- Harish Shankar directing Ustaad Bhagat Singh with Pawan Kalyan replaced her with Sreeleela.
- Trivikram Srinivas directing Guntur Karam with Mahesh Babu – again she lost the chance to Sreeleela.
Pooja Hegde is rumored to have walked out of yet another promising project.
The film in question here is Ganja Shankar starring Sai Dharam Tej and directed by Sampath Nandi. Initial reports suggested that Pooja Hegde would be playing the female lead but now it looks like that’s not happening anymore.
According to sources close to the production house, the decision to exit was taken by Pooja herself as she was not comfortable with the role offered to her. In Ganja Shankar, the heroine’s character spends most of her screen time in jail as a prisoner – this is an unglamorous look for Pooja who prefers roles that showcase her beauty.
It remains to be seen if the production house will make an official announcement about Pooja’s exit or not.
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