Filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker has chosen Pooja Hegde to play the female lead in his Indus Valley civilisation-set love story "Mohenja Daro". He believes her "natural" acting prowess and "elegance" make her a perfect fit for the role opposite Hrithik Roshan.

"I'm extremely happy to have found Pooja Hegde. She is very natural as an actress and has an elegance and poise that will make the character attractive and endearing. Both these strengths with a degree of freshness adds the required spark to the 'Mohenjo Daro' love story," Gowariker said in a statement Saturday.

Standing tall at 5 ft 9 inches, Pooja was adjudged the second runner up in the Miss Universe India 2010. She has done her share of acting down south with Tamil action-drama "Mugamoodi".


"Mohenjo Daro" will mark her entry into Hindi cinema.

In the past, Gowariker has successfully launched new faces like Gracy Singh in "Lagaan" and Gayatri Joshi in "Swades".

The pre-production of "Mohenjo Daro" is on in full swing, and it is slated to go on floors in the last quarter of this year.