Actress-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt is often seen being in the headlines. In fact, after participating in Bigg Boss OTT 2, she gained a lot of fan following. In a recent interview, Pooja opened up about leaving the film industry at a very young age after she made her acting debut at the age of just 17 years in the film Daddy, directed by her father Mahesh Bhatt.
Pooja Bhatt opened up about making her acting debut at 17 and going behind the camera at 25
In a recent conversation with Siddharth Kanan, Pooja Bhatt shared that she was just 17 years old when she did her first film called Daddy. “After Daddy, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, Sadak was like a hat-trick. At 19 I was a superstar, by 24 the industry said, ‘Yeh toh khatam ho chuki hai (she is over). So I said this is the only industry in the world where at 24 when most people are just starting out, you have reached the height of stardom, they have already brought you down to the pits saying you are finished,” Bhatt shared.
During the talk, Pooja also shared why she gave up acting and went behind the camera at the age of 25. She said, “At the age of 25 I started my production (house), made Tammanna. I won my first National Award, I got a sense of self-gratification, and I got my self-esteem back for making a film like that. I traveled throughout the country, met people, and that film raised money for charity, I got my National Award. Then I made Dushman with Kajol, then I made Zakhm, and the rest is history.”
Moreover, Bhatt also shared that for 21 years, she did not face the camera as she was just producing and directing films. According to her, she had accepted the fact that her stardom phase was over and she had entered a new phase of life as a filmmaker. The last film Pooja made was Jism 2 and she launched Sunny Leone.
Pooja Bhatt made a comeback with Bombay Begum
After staying away from glamour for almost two decades, Pooja Bhatt made her acting comeback with Netflix’s Bombay Begums in 2021. She revealed, “I thought it was over for me, and then Alankrita Shrivastava and Bornila (Chatterjee) sent me the script of Bombay Begums. I told them that I had shut this door and that I was not an actor anymore, but they asked me to give it a read. When I read it, I felt it was amazing, I have to play this part. After 21 years I made a comeback.”
Recently, after participating in Bigg Boss OTT 2, Pooja emerged as the fourth runner-up.
