Bollywood Hungama Style Icons Summit and Awards 2026: Pooja Hegde calls her Cannes debut “whirlwind” after losing all her luggage; says it was “an adventure” she never wants to repeat
Actor Pooja Hegde has opened up about the unexpected challenges she faced before making her red carpet debut at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. Looking back at the experience, she revealed that several suitcases carrying her outfits, jewellery, makeup and hair essentials were lost during transit, forcing her team to rebuild everything from scratch just hours before the event.
Speaking exclusively to RJ Archana at the BH Style Icon Awards 2026, Pooja described the entire episode as a whirlwind that she hopes never to experience again: "Cannes was a bit like... it was a whirlwind. I lost my baggage. I lost my suitcases. My team also lost their suitcases."
'We had no clothes, no jewellery, no makeup'
The actor said the situation became even more stressful because she had a red carpet appearance scheduled immediately after landing: "We had landed and we had a red carpet that we had to do with no clothes, with no jewellery, with no makeup, nothing."
With time running out, her team quickly stepped in to salvage the situation: "My team had to go out and find new products, buy new products. I had to go get a new outfit. So, it was quite an adventure. It was an adventure that I would hopefully never like to repeat."
Despite the last-minute scramble, Pooja eventually walked the Cannes red carpet in a striking strapless pink feather gown during the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick, earning praise for her glamorous appearance.
Finding calm before the cameras
Recalling the moments before stepping onto one of the world's most-watched red carpets, Pooja admitted she was extremely nervous. However, once she arrived at the venue, her mindset shifted completely: "I was so nervous about the red carpet and the moment I reached there, I just kind of hit this zen space and I was just breathing through the entire thing."
The actor said that once she was on the red carpet, she chose to focus on the experience instead of the chaos that had unfolded behind the scenes.
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