Jason Shah on Sharmin Segal's performance in Heeramandi: Sanjay Leela Bhansali kept telling her to act from the heart

Actor Jason Shah portrayed the role of the villain Cartwright in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s series, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.

In a recent interview with Entertainment LIVE, Jason, who was seen as the villainous Cartwright in the show, seemed to agree with the sentiment about Sharmin's performance in the show. In fact, he feels the potential of Sharmin’s character was explored in the best possible way.

What did he say

Jason also gave an insight on how Sanjay tried to get the best out of Sharmin on set, and advised to act from her heart. “I thought, personally, there should have been a higher escalation of emotion in different places,” Jason said when asked about the backlash.

He added, “I remember Sanjay also saying, ‘Stop acting from your head, act from your heart’. But I don’t know, maybe that’s what they wanted from her. Maybe that was the one tone that they were looking for from this character. But that’s the director’s call. She was alright. She was doing her thing. We worked pretty easily together. We never had any difficulty as such.”

There is also a buzz that Sharmin was told to give a muted performance, and Jason is also not sure about it. “Maybe, that’s what I think. If not, if she wasn’t told to keep it one-tone, I felt that the character had a lot of space and a lot of scope to do a lot of different things,” he says. The actor feels the character was not fully explored, and is quick to note that he has no expertise in that side as he is not a director by profession.

Sharmin gets flak for Heeramandi

In the show, Sharmin portrays the character of Alamzeb, the daughter of Mallikajaan, played by Manisha Koirala. The show also marked her OTT debut.

Since the release, her performance has been under the scanner, with a section of social media users wondering if she got the role because of her personal bond with Sanjay.

“Sharmin Sehgal had too much screen time for her abysmal acting skills. She can't act at all. Bad diction along with her lack of expressions ruined the entire experience,” wrote one social media user. In fact, a lot of memes are also surfacing in the virtual world, taking a dig at Sharmin’s performance.

Sometime back, show’s casting director Shruti Mahajan had come forward to support her. “There are a lot of people who liked her voice, and acting. They have said that she looks fresh and brings newness to the cast. People say that she doesn’t seem to belong to the world of Heeramandi or part of the world of courtesans. But that was the brief. It was all about her not belonging to the world, and not feel like she is a courtesan. That’s what we kept in mind,” she said, adding, “What you see is the cast of Heeramandi, and I am very proud of it”.

The Netflix show is set in the backdrop of the Indian independence revolution. The series showcases the clash between the courtesans of the red-light district of Heeramandi in Lahore and the officials during the British Raj. It also stars Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Shaikh, Fardeen Khan, Taha Shah Badussha, Shekhar Suman, and Adhyayan Suman.

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