CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress / ITDC News Bhopal: Actor Shekhar Suman and his son, Adhyayan Suman, weighed in on the trolling that their Heeramandi c0-star, Sharmin Segal, has been braving in the month since the show dropped on Netflix. Sharmin’s performance was described by audiences as ’emotionless’ and ‘expressionless’, and she consequently disabled comments on Instagram as the backlash increased. It also didn’t help that Sharmin is the niece of Heeramandi creator Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who recently rejected criticism that she was cast because of nepotism and not her talent.
In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Shekhar was prodded to share his honest opinion about Sharmin’s performance, and he said that he can understand why she chose to play her character, the demure Alamzeb, in the way that she did. But Adhyayan was more straightforward in sharing his advice for her, given the situation. He said, “I think it’s very important to not live in a bubble. It’s very important to accept any sort of reality, not just Heeramandi, per se. It’s very important to understand who you are, it’s very important to understand whether you have it in you to fight the next 15-2o years. It’s important for you to not lie to yourself.”
Adhyayan said that it was only because he took stock of the situation that he worked on himself during a period of disappointment, and re-emerged as an actor after having been written off by the industry. “If she is being criticised for her performance, she should come out and speak to people. The audiences are very gentle, they’ll give you another chance if they feel you’ve worked hard.”
Shekhar said that he found the trolling to be unfair, and explained why he supports Sharmin. Although he didn’t declare that she did well in the show, he attempted to justify some of the choices she made, while also indirectly calling her performance ‘expressionless’. He said, “If you think there is some credibility to the criticism, do some quick thinking about why they’re saying that, and if you feel they have a point, correct yourself and prove them all wrong. And if they’re doing just for the heck of it, then ignore them.”
Shekhar said that a veteran perfectionist like Bhansali wouldn’t have cast Sharmin in the role if he wasn’t confident about her skills, and if he was ever dissatisfied by her performance he would’ve made sure that she delivers what he wanted. But because Alamzeb has been shown in a certain way on screen, Shekhar surmised that it must be on purpose. “I think they’re being too harsh on her. There are different schools of acting. If she wasn’t right, Bhansali saab wouldn’t risk his name, his career, his reputation on a girl just because she’s his niece.”
Recently, Sharmin broke her silence around the trolling, and appeared to defend her widely criticised performance in the show. She told News18, “I had given my all to Alamzeb’s character. We tend to fixate on the negatives but there are so many positives that have also come along, which we don’t talk about. It’s perhaps not interesting enough to talk about positives and we tend to look over them to some degree.”
Previously, in an interview with India Today, Bhansali had also defended casting Sharmin in the role of Alamzeb. He said, “She has a face which is exactly what Alamzeb should be, somebody who doesn’t want to be a tawaif, she doesn’t talk like a tawaif, she doesn’t walk like a tawaif. Her face had innocence, whereas all the others had lived life, they had survived manipulation and mental games. You needed somebody with a fresh, innocent quality to her… I felt that Sharmin was the right choice for Alam not because she’s my niece.”
In the weeks since Heeramandi’s release, several of Sharmin’s co-stars, such as Jayati Bhatia, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sanjeeda Shaikh, and Jason Shah, have addressed the trolling she has experienced in different ways. The show was recently renewed for a second season.
