[ad_1]
Actor Sharmin Segal is putting on a brave front, but the criticism that she has received for her Heeramandi performance has affected her. Her perceived expressionless acting in her uncle Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Netflix show inspired memes, where people started mocking her dialogue delivery and mimicking her. But Sharmin said that certain lines were crossed, and the attacks became personal.
Sharmin said that she received support from her Heeramandi co-stars, who called to check in on her. Heeramandi featured Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chaddha and Sanjeeda Sheikh. Some of her co-stars, such as Jason Shah, have also been critical of her performance, while others like Farida Jalal, Shekhar Suman and Jayati Bhatia have taken different positions on the trolling.
“The two people who have stood out the most have been Richa and Aditi, who have really called and checked in on me. Richa has reached out to me almost every alternate day, just to make sure I am ok because she does understand this. She was very thoughtful. I really appreciate the support system I had of women I worked with because more than my family, they understand it better because they are from the industry,” she told Zoom.
Sharmin said she felt that the general criticism of her performance slowly morphed into people assuming something about her character. There were clips on the internet, where she is seen interacting with her Heeramandi co-stars, which people dubbed as arrogant. Some people perceived her as a privileged industry insider, who was unkind to the outsiders. “You do have the right to judge my acting at whatever stage in my career, but don’t judge my character. I have felt it throughout the last one month, it has come up in various places. It has been in those headlines and it’s after reading that… I felt that was a little unfair and pushing it,” she added.
While all her Heeramandi co-stars came out in defense of her and some even vocally said how some of their pre-release promotional interactions were taken out of context, Sharmin said she is scared to even say that there should be some social media responsibility, because people might misread her statement.
“The audience has the right to say what they want to say. But judging someone’s personality, turning them into a bad person is not okay. That’s the only thing I would want to put out there. It is your right to judge my work, but I am not giving you Sharmin to judge. I am open to good, bad, everything of you judging me for my craft, but when you judge me, it does somewhere play on my mind. Which is where social media responsibility would come into play, which I don’t think exists today.
“Maybe we will get there someday, where people realise you can’t keep judging someone’s personality without knowing who they are, especially with things that are taken out of context. That’s what’s been happening with me. It scared me to put this point across, because whatever I say, someone will make something else out of it… It is not just happening to me but so many. Because of social media, the personality is being judged, puts them in a much harder position. I am not saying this has destroyed my life, but it can destroy someone’s life,” she added.
Despite mixed reviews, Heeramandi season two is in the works, as confirmed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the streamer earlier this month.
Click for more updates and latest Bollywood news along with Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the world at The Indian Express.
[ad_2]
