What Is New Yorker Pooja Kumar Doing With Kamal Hassan?
Pooja Kumar, the Indian-American actress who starred opposite the famous and witty American comedian, Chris Kattan in Bollywood Hero, was recently seen in Kamal Hassan’s new movie, Viswaroopam 2, and has been getting much appreciation for her role.
In Bollywood Hero, she had played Chris’s romantic lead and love interest on a journey to India to become a Bollywood star. The project premiered on the IFC Network in August 2009 – Keanu Reeves, Maya Rudolph, and Adam Samberg have all made special appearances in the three-part TV Mini-Series. This show was heralded as one of the summer’s funniest romantic comedies.
After winning the Miss India U.S.A. pageant, Pooja Kumar was selected by Amitabh Bachchan Corp. Ltd, as one of the budding new stars out of 60,000 contestants. She became a video disc jockey for Channel V but eventually returned to her true passion, acting. In pursuit of this dream, she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and has acted as the main lead in 10 feature films: two in Tamil, “Kaadhal Rojave,” “Chota Jadugar”(also in 3-D); in English, “Flavors”, “Night of Henna”, “Park Sharks”, “Hiding Divya’, “Anything For You”, “Knots Urbane”, “Bollywood Beats”, and “Drawing with Chalk”. She has also played a District Attorney on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit with Kal Penn known for the Harold and Kumar Goes to White Castle franchise.
For her role in “Flavors,” Pooja received the Screen Actor’s Guild Emerging Actor Award. Her performance in “Night of Henna” has been widely appreciated, especially by A.O. Scott of the New York Times, who wrote that Kumar has an “unassuming loveliness about her role.”
Pooja Kumar is very proud of her work in a film called “Hiding Divya,” with Madhur Jaffrey, which centers around three generations of women and how they deal with mental illness.
Another film in which Pooja played a challenging role is called “Drawing with Chalk, a tale of a couple trying to deal with the harsh realities of life while trying to fulfill their dreams at the same time.
Pooja Kumar has been recognized in major ad campaigns for Pepsi, Budweiser, American On-Line, Verizon, Bombay Dreams, Dodge, TATA True Roots, Outback Steakhouse, Pearl Vision, New York Lotto, and First Response. She also served as host for a comedic show for ImaginAsian TV called “Movies for the ImaginAsian,” in which she introduces Chinese, Japanese, and Bollywood films to second-generation Asians.
