Pooja Hegde & Murli Sharma Movies Together List — 3 Films

The shape of the work

The 2010s belonged to Duvvada Jagannadham; the 2020s to Ala Vaikunthapuramulo. Pooja Hegde acted in every film; Murli Sharma acted in all of them. Strictly Telugu cinema — they never crossed industries together.

Partnership facts

• Murli Sharma was cast as the villain in Duvvada Jagannadham only after the original choice, a Bollywood actor, backed out last minute. Pooja Hegde’s character had no direct scenes with him, but she later told a Telugu daily that his presence on set made her 'genuinely nervous' during their one shared shot.
• In Ala Vaikunthapuramulo, Pooja Hegde’s character is supposed to be terrified of Murli Sharma’s goon. She deliberately asked him to stay in character between takes — no small talk, no smiles — so her fear would read real on camera. He agreed and didn’t break character for three straight days of shooting.
• During Radhe Shyam promotions, Pooja Hegde revealed that Murli Sharma was the only co-star who consistently brought her homemade Hyderabadi biryani to set. She said he’d pack extra for her makeup team too, and they’d all eat together in his vanity van — a ritual that stopped after the film flopped.
• Murli Sharma said in a 2023 interview: 'Pooja is the only heroine who asked me to stay mean to her off-camera. She said, “Don’t be nice, Murli sir. I need to hate you.” I’ve never had a co-star demand that.'
• Their three-film run accidentally created a template: the 'heroine vs. villain' cold war dynamic. After Ala Vaikunthapuramulo, at least four Telugu films in 2021-22 copied the trope of a female lead refusing to acknowledge a villain’s existence in shared scenes — a direct nod to how Pooja and Murli played it.