As actors, we should be allowed to fail, says Pooja Hegde

Mumbai: Success and failure are part of the process in an actor’s journey, said Pooja Hegde, who believes in learning from her mistakes and growing from them.

In 2022, Hegde, who has parallel careers in the South and Hindi movie industries, had four releases: the Prabhas-starrer ‘Radhe Shyam’, Telugu action drama ‘Acharya’ with Chiranjeevi, the Tamil movie ‘Beast’ with Vijay and Ranveer Singh-led Hindi feature ‘Cirkus’. Except for ‘Beast’, the three other movies didn’t do well at the box office.

“I am a working actor. It is always dot, dot and dot; there is no full stop yet. As actors, we should be allowed to fail. That’s a very important part of our process. It is all part of the game. Name one actor, who hasn’t had a failure. Everyone has,” Hegde told the top news agency.

“I remember watching an interview with someone who said, ‘As actors, our strength lies in our ability to fail because that’s when we can give you something new’. If I don’t make a few mistakes, I will not grow,” the 32-year-old actor said when asked whether the performance of these films had an impact on her career.

Hegde, who next stars opposite Salman Khan in ‘Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan’, said she is happy that her performance is being noticed.

"As an actor, I think, ‘Did I do my best job?’ and when I see people have appreciated it (my work), so in a way, it has been great,” she said.

She added, “I had six blockbuster films back-to-back. You didn’t see me complaining at that time, so how can I complain now? I am counting my blessings. It is all for the good. I have grown as an actor in the films that didn't do well.”

The Mumbai-born actor began her cinematic journey with the 2012 Tamil film ‘Mugamoodi’ and followed it up with releases in Telugu with ‘Oka Laila Kosam’ and in Hindi with ‘Mohenjo Daro’, in 2014 and 2016.

Her journey in the movie industry hasn’t been easy.