Pooja Hegde to play Salman Khan’s romantic interest in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan.
In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Pooja Hegde reveals that she used to refer to Salman Khan as ‘bhai’ when they had just met.
Pooja Hegde is gearing up for the release of her next film, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. The action entertainer has her paired opposite Salman Khan for the first time and their chemistry in songs like Naiyo Lagda and Jee Rahe The Hum have caught the attention of many. Interestingly, the trailer of the film sees her calling him ‘bhai’ despite them sharing a romantic equation, which has left the audience in splits. And now, in an exclusive chat with News18, Pooja reveals that she indeed used to refer to Salman as ‘bhai’ when they had just met.
“In the beginning when I had just met him, I called him bhai. That’s because everyone calls him that. But it’s a very natural tendency to call him bhai as the whole world calls him so. In the film, everyone calls him bhaijaan. So, we played on that in a comic way. My character doesn’t want to call him bhai and she keeps making these mistakes. People have liked that and they’re finding it funny.”
She tells us that that she now calls him SK, the acronym of his name. Quiz her how Salman reacted when she referred to him as ‘bhai’ and Pooja says, “Now, I call him SK because he has asked me to. He told me that I can call him Salman too but I can’t (laughs)! At one point, I called him Salman sir but he started calling me ma’am. I told him not to do that. Now, we’ve settled at SK.”
Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan has also been making headlines for its songs. While Jee Rahe The Hum has been crooned by Salman, the dance number Yentamma has a cameo appearance by Ram Charan. Pooja believes that she has been rather fortunate for being associated with some chartbusters throughout her career. Happy with the way the audience is accepting the music of the film, she remarks, “I’ve been lucky when it comes to songs. Be it Butta Bomma, Samajavaragamana (both from Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo) or Arabic Kuthu (from Beast), which went super viral on reels, I’ve had a good experience with songs. Even Naiyo Lagda got millions of views in such a short time.”
And what makes Yentamma even more special for the Cirkus (2022) and Housefull 4 (2019) actor is the fact that it gave her the opportunity of collaborating with Ram for the third time. Earlier, she had a cameo in the song Jigelu Rani from his film Rangastalam (2018) and then they were paired opposite each other in Acharya (2022). Sharing her excitement of reuniting with him, she says, “It has been great. He is an absolute sweetheart,” she says.
Talking about how it was the RRR (2022) actor’s idea to make a special appearance in the song, Pooja recalls, “We were shooting in Hyderabad. He came to meet Salman sir and told him that he also wanted to be a part of our film. Everyone thought he was joking. I don’t know what happened after I left but he came to the set the next day and I saw him in his look. I think it was really sweet of him to do the song. I believe it was his idea to do it.”
A Salman Khan Film production, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan is directed by Farhad Samji. The film also stars Venkatesh Daggubati, Jagapathi Babu, Bhumika Chawla, Vijender Singh, Raghav Juyal, Siddharth Nigam, Jassie Gill, Shehnaaz Gill, Palak Tiwari and Vinali Bhatnagar. It is slated to release on Eid 2023.
