World Has Been Too Harsh On The Poor Little Thing

Sharmin Segal in Heeramandi. (courtesy: sharminsegal)

New Delhi:

Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar features Sonakshi Sinha, Manisha Koirala, Sanjeeda Shaikh, Richa Chadha, Aditi Rao Hydari, and Sharmin Segal in pivotal roles. The Netflix show marked director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s OTT debut. Sharmin, who is his niece, has been trolled for her acting in the series. Sharmin portrays the character of Almazeb, a courtesan’s daughter, in the web series. Addressing the trolls, Shekhar Suman, who plays Nawab Zulfikar in Heeramandi, mentioned that people have been “too harsh” on the actress. In an interview with ETimes, Shekhar Suman said, “I don’t think that Bhansali sahab did not take this into his cognizance that it can have an adverse effect. She just happens to be his niece, and has done movies earlier. What has happened is that the world has been too harsh on the poor little thing.”

“She’s (Sharmin Segal) a young girl and the criticism can destroy her. People can go a little easy instead of calling her names where she was forced to disable her comments. She said she auditioned 16 times for Heeramandi, so let’s be fair to him that he cast her,” Shekhar Suman added.

Praising Sharmin Segal’s performance in Heeramandi, Shekhar Suman said, “I think she was so good with her character, she was terrific. Ask me why? I think all characters don’t have to behave the same way, react the same way. In our lives also, we come across characters who are very reticent, who hardly emote, who hardly speak, with just a faint smile. There was a lot of turmoil that I could see in her eyes. There was a pain and then she expressed it through her eyes. People are saying poker face, but it is not that.”

Shekhar Suman also opened up about how Sharmin Segal played her role “differently.” He added, “Even when she was informed about Tajdar’s (played by Taha Shah Badussha) demise, she is straight faced. Because at times when you are shocked, you obviously don’t know how to react, It’s not that whenever you hear about a tragedy, you start shouting, beating your chest. So she’s played it differently. Otherwise, Bhansali sahab wouldn’t had made her play the role, or could have corrected, asked her to give 100 takes. But that was not wanted. Each actor is different, like Sanjeeda’s is different than Bibbojaan, Fareedan’s is different from Mallika and everyone is reacting differently. I thought what Sharmin did was very new and refreshing. I did not find anything wrong with that. And there are different ways of looking at a character.”

Sharing his perspective of Sharmin Segal’s character, Shekhar Suman mentioned, “I see Alamzeb as a very reticent character, which was very withdrawn and introverted and kept to herself and hardly emoted. So in that sense, the character worked beautifully for me. I think she’s done a splendid job. Of course, everybody could be better. That’s a question that remains. But let’s not be so harsh on any actor, you have to be slightly kind. You need to know that it’s a character which Mr Bhansali has visualised.” 

Shekhar Suman’s son Adhyayan Suman is also a part of Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.