Her twitter bio reads thus – Actor. Dancer. Model. Athlete. Painter. With the Short and Sweet festival, the soon-to-turn 22-year-old can also add directing to her list of accomplishments.
After going to Mumbai, Kuala Lampur and Sydney with My Name is Cinema, Pooja says she has learned a lot about theatre. “Not just about the acting but also about other aspects of theatre, like lights, sets and directing. So when we were given the choice of acting in two short plays or acting in one and directing in one, I decided to go for the latter,” she says.
The spunky actor is directing a 10-minute play with her colleague from Stray Factory, Venkatesh Harinathan in the lead. And does being so much younger than the rest of the gang, and a being a women on top of all that make a difference? “I’ve always been the youngest member in the set, so much so that I’m always addressed by synonyms for baby – paapa, kutti and so on. As for being a woman, this is the best time to be one in Chennai theatre,” she affirms cheerfully.
Bouncing ideas off each other is how directors work with their actors and assistants and for a while, ideas were bounced off her as well. “Now that I’m taking up directing, I’m doing the same thing. And it’s turning out to be a lot of fun,” she says and adds that she just might continue with directing in the future.