It was a Skype call that drew U.S.-based Pooja Kumar to the studios of Kodambakkam. She was in the U.S. a few years ago and actor Kamal Haasan, having seen some of her work online, called her. “He said, ‘I’m Kamal Haasan’,” she recalls, “And I said, ‘Of course, I know that!’”
Very soon, she was on a flight to Chennai – only to be cast as the leading lady in Vishwaroopam . Today, Pooja has two films with the actor – Uttama Villain and Vishwaroopam 2 – lined up.
The actress is excited about her segment. She’ll be performing attakalari at the launch and is busy rehearsing to get her moves right. “I play an actress in this film,” she says, “I have many different looks in it.” Exactly how many? “Oh, you’ll have to watch the film to find out.”
Dance is very close to Pooja; she was very interested in the art form, ever since her seventh grade when she took classes from Adyar Lakshman. Since then, she’s been at it, all through her life in the U.S., till date. She keeps learning new forms, which is perhaps why her part in Uttama Villain is something she’s super excited about.
“For me, dance is also like a film; it has rhythm and music.
I take up new art forms as a challenge; I worked hard on the attakalari segment in this project.”
Another reason she’s glad to have been associated with Uttama Villain is because she got to interact with the legendary director K. Balachander, who passed away recently. Pooja says, “I got to spend time with him and learn from him on the sets.” K Balachander will be seen for the last time on the big screen in this film.
