Pooja Hegde Slams Bollywood, Praises South Cinema

In an industry where many actresses move from South Indian cinema to Bollywood and later speak less kindly about their roots, Pooja Hegde is taking a different path. Her words have caught attention because they break the usual pattern. While others have claimed the South only used them for glamour, Pooja is openly giving credit to the industry for shaping her career.

Though she made her debut in Bollywood, Pooja’s real success came from Telugu and Tamil films. Movies like Aravinda Sametha and Radhe Shyam gave her roles with emotion, range, and presence, something she says Hindi cinema rarely offered her. In Bollywood, except for her debut Mohenjo Daro, most characters she played were designed just to add glamour.

Speaking in a recent interview, she didn’t hesitate to say that Bollywood never gave her strong, memorable roles. Instead, she praised South filmmakers for trusting her with characters that had weight. Her latest Tamil film, Retro, directed by Karthik Subbaraj, is one such example. According to Pooja, the role was crafted to challenge her as an actress, and she enjoyed every moment of it.

She said she wants to do more South films, where she feels glamour and performance are balanced better. For her, the value of a role is not in how long she’s on screen, but in whether the character stays in the audience’s mind after the film. Her words have earned respect from South film fans and shown that honesty and gratitude can stand out as much as commercial success.