Pooja Hegde can rarely be spotted without her elaborate headgear in the snatches of Mohenjo Daro we see in the promos. The headgears are ornate and yes, heavy. “I wore headgears with flowers, even gold. They were really heavy. The one with gold would give me a splitting headache within five to 10 minutes of wearing it. The others would trigger a headache in 15 minutes. If you look at the videos of making of the film, you’ll see me resting my head or holding my head with my hands,” laughs Pooja, talking to us on a relaxed morning, before she heads out to another round of promotions.
She plays Channi, who people consider ‘the chosen one’ or ‘navlokani’. The way she’s dressed in the film, she says, reflects why she’s different from the rest. “People believe that Channi will be the one to usher in a new order, an order for the better, in Mohenjo Daro. They treat her like a girl who has magical powers. How does one separate the chosen one from the rest? Ashutosh Gowariker felt I should be dressed differently, I wore costumes made of shells, metal and beads,” she elaborates. The film’s costume designing was done by Neeta Lulla and April Ferry, who designed for the sixth season of Games of Thrones .
Mohenjo Daro is Pooja’s big ticket entry into Hindi cinema. She is eager to see how two years of her work will be received. When she signed the film, she didn’t know it would take this long. Pooja did know, though, that she will have to turn down other offers until this film released. “I am bound by a contract to not accept other films until Mohenjo Daro’s release,” she says. Pooja turned down offers from Telugu and Tamil, including a Mani Ratnam film. “I was so upset. It’s like a dream to work with him and I had to say no,” she rues.
It wasn’t easy for her to move away from Telugu and Tamil industries, after being a part of films like Mugamoodi (Mysskin’s Tamil film released as Mask in Telugu), Oka Laila Kosam and Mukunda . “I really miss working in Telugu and Tamil. Fans there adore you. I had to say no to some good projects with brilliant actors and directors. When Mohenjo Daro came to me, I decided to go by my gut instincts. If something big comes up, you need to give it that time and effort,” she adds.
Pooja was spotted by Gowariker’s wife Sunita in a commercial with Ranbir Kapoor. She auditioned and got selected. In the pre-production stage, she was filled with questions. “Gowariker had the answers to all of them. He has researched extensively. His office is filled with books. We could ask him anything about that era and he would explain. He has an eye for detail. He met many archaeologists while planning the film,” says Pooja, emphasising that it isn’t a historical drama but a fictional drama. “Channi and other characters are figments of Gowariker’s imagination. Unlike Jodha, for which you can find references in books, there’s nothing about these characters.”
The actress recalls being nervous during her first meeting with Hrithik Roshan on the sets. Her calm exterior concealed her nervousness. “He’s so good looking and talented. I didn’t want to end up feeling inadequate on screen,” she says. A photo shoot helped break the ice between the actors. When it came to dancing, she practiced at length to match steps with Hrithik. “For some reason while doing the photo shoot, he kept asking me when I’d have to leave and what time my flight is. He was surprised when I told him I live in Bandra. I was born and brought up in Mumbai.”
Pooja’s family roots are in Karnataka and she speaks Tulu fluently. “If my mom came to the sets, we would speak to her in Tulu and no one would understand. That’s an advantage when you know any South Indian language,” she beams.
