Pooja Hegde has carved an impressive niche for herself in the film industry, with work expanding over Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi languages. She has worked with some of the biggest names in the South film industry, and had made her big Bollywood debut with Hrithik Roshan in Mohenjo Daro.

The actress is now gearing up for her next Tamil film titled Retro. Stone Bench Films, the film’s production house recently revealed the reason behind casting Pooja Hegde as the film’s leading actress.

They shared that it was Pooja’s dedication and willingness to dub for her voice, that truly won them over. The actress is dubbing in her voice for the first time in a regional Tamil film.

The production house commented, “When director Karthik Subbaraj was searching for a heroine, multiple names were suggested, but it was Pooja Hegde who caught everyone’s attention. After seeing her, Pandiyaa himself confirmed, ‘This is the girl we’ve been looking for!’ The only concern was whether she could deliver dialogues fluently in Tamil. But Pooja, known for taking on challenges since her childhood, confidently assured the team that she would overcome this too.”

They added, “After an impressive look test, she began her daily Tamil training and surprised everyone by delivering even lengthy monologue sequences flawlessly. There were plenty of fun moments on set, with the team confusing her with tougher Tamil words.”

Retro has Suriya and Pooja Hegde in the lead, along with Malayalam actors Joju George, Jayaram, and Tamil actor Karunakaran in key roles. The film is set to release in theatres on May 1, 2025.