It has been more than a month since Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s OTT debut ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’ released on Netflix on May 1. However, since that time, actor Sharmin Segal, who played Alamzeb in the show, has been getting a lot of flak for her perceived “expressionless” acting. In fact, Sharmin has been on the receiving end of massive trolling. While she has mostly kept mum, her co-stars are taking the responsibility now of defending her.
Joining the likes of Richa Chadha, Taha Shah Badussha, and Aditi Rao Hydari, Farida Jalal, who was seen in the role of Qudsia Begum in the period drama, mentioned how people should be kinder to Sharmin, and how she “has done her best”.
The veteran actor told India Today, “I know, I am not happy about this. Be kind. What her capacity as an actor is, she has done her best. I don’t feel the character needs to be very boisterous and loud, the role was not like that.”
She further questioned, “What were you expecting? Yes, what you thought you needed… It’s ok, why should we be mean to the girl? Be kind, maybe that’s her capacity, just that much. I don’t think the real role was boisterous, it wasn’t. She is a shayara, she falls in love with my bacchha (Taha Shah’s character) and that’s it.”
Before Farida, Richa Chadha recently shared a screenshot of a comment on Instagram stories, that read, “Don’t ever return to that show. It was specifically made for an emotion less hamming nepokid.” Highlighting the comment, Richa wrote, “Kind is cool.” While Aditi Rao Hydari and Taha Shah defended the actor, other ‘Heeramandi’ co-stars of Sharmin, including Adhyayan Suman and Jason Shah, appeared to side with the criticism.
As for ‘Heeramandi’, it also starred Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Fardeen Khan and others.
