Exclusive: Heeramandi Casting Director Defends Sharmin Segal’s Casting: She Gave 100 Percent | Bollywood

Actor Sharmin Segal, who is the niece of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, was criticized for her performance in Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. Now, the casting director of the web show, Shruti Mahajan, has come forward to support her. In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, she says Sharmin is the right choice for the role, adding that it is unfair to troll her. (Also read: Casting director Shruti Mahajan: Sanjay Leela Bhansali had no preference for Heeramandi actors)

In the series, Sharmin plays the character of Alamzeb, the daughter of Mallikajaan, played by Manisha Koirala. The show also marked Sanjay’s foray into the world of streaming.

It’s time to focus on love

According to Shruti, a large number of people appreciated her work in the web series, which released earlier this month. “People also liked his work. It’s unfair to her that we always want to talk about the negative. Our mind likes to attract negative thoughts,” Shruti tells us.

She adds: “We also talk about a lot of positive things about her. But above all, as an actress, she gave 100% to the character. She is a very hard working actress. We should appreciate it and focus on the good.”

About Sharmin getting trolled

Sharmin made her OTT debut with Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. Her performance has been under scanner with a section of social media users wondering if she got the role because of her personal connection with Sanjay.

A user wrote, “Sharmin Sehgal was getting too much screen time for her terrible acting skills. She can’t act at all. Bad diction along with his lack of expressions spoiled the whole experience,” while another shared, “I think this web series was designed to extract large payouts and revival ramp for Sharmin from Netflix.”

Ask her about it and Shruti clarifies that Sharmin had to undergo several auditions and tests before she was finalized for the role.

“She went through the whole process, just like the other actors. The process for everyone was the same. They had to go through rounds of auditions and tests,” says Shruti, who worked with Sanjay on Bajirao Mastani and Gangubai Kathiawadi.

Opening up about Sanjay’s brief for the role of Alamzeb, the casting director shares, “There are a lot of people who liked his voice and acting. They said she looked fresh and brought newness to the cast. People say that she doesn’t seem to belong to the world of Heeramandi or the world of courtesans. But that was the brief. For her it was about not belonging to the world and not feeling like a courtesan. That’s what we kept in mind.”

“What you see is the casting of Heeramandi, and I am very proud of it,” she exclaims.

About Heeramandi

The Netflix show is set against the backdrop of the Indian independence revolution. The series presents the clash between the courtesans of the red-light district of Heera Mandi in Lahore and the officials of the British Raj.

The series boasts a cast including names like Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sharmin Segal, Sanjeeda Shaikh, also including names like Fardeen Khan, Taha Shah Badussha, Shekhar Suman and Adhyayan Suman.

“The message I got from Sanjay sir was that actors should belong to this world. The world of Heeramandi that is larger than life. For casting, we thought outside the box, instead of going down the cliché route,” she said, adding that she was happy that it resonated so well with audiences.