Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Heeramandi’ released last month. The series has received a lots of love and acclaim across the globe. While the director and its actors have been enjoying the massive success, Sharmin Segal, the actor who portrayed the character of Alamzeb, has been at the receiving end of huge criticism. Netizens have been trolling the actor for her ‘expressionless’ performance in the series. For the first time, the actor has broken her silence on the matter.
The most-talked about and the most trolled person on the internet, Sharmin Segal has finally opened up about the criticism she has faced post the release of ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’. In an interview with News18 Showshah, the actor emphasised on the importance of acknowledging audience’s response. She said, “The audience is the king at the end of the day. And as a creative person, it’s very important to acknowledge that. They have a right to their opinion – positive or negative. That’s one thing that gives me perspective and allows me to be okay.”
The actor said that she gave it all to the character and believes that even though there have been many positive responses, social media fixated on the negative ones. “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,” she said.
Following the brutal trolling, Sharmin even unabled comments on her post. The 28-year-old opened up on why she decided to make a distance from the social media chatter about her performance. “There was a point when I was not looking at many things [reviews] but then slowly, I realised that I was also missing out on a lot of love that I was getting. I’ve now started paying attention to that. Over the last few days, I decided to look through it all. The audience’s opinion is what will probably help you be the best version of yourself,” she shared.
The actor seems to have moved on and is now looking at the positive aspects of the entire experience. She said, “I saw positivity, constructive criticism, and a whole range of feedback and that’s what happens when you put yourself out there as an artist or an actor. It was actually quite nice to hear all sides of things. It’s an inevitability. Opinions shape you as an actor and a human being. These are actual humans responding to you and it makes you realise how many people you can reach. These opinions are very important.”
Despite the harsh trolling, Sharmin did gain a lot of attention even if for the wrong reason. Her debut film, ‘Malaal’ came up on the list of top 10 films after the ‘Heeramandi’ release. She sees this as a positive and said, “They’ve not only connected with Alamzeb and Sharmin but also with Aastha from Malaal. Malaal is in the list of top ten shows because of Heeramandi. Heeramandi has allowed me to connect with so many people across the globe. It’s quite a nice experience overall.”
Meanwhile, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Netflix announced a second season of the superhit series ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’. The second season of the series will showcase the journey of Tawaifs from Lahore to the film industry. The cast and release date of the second season is still under wraps.
Also Watch: ‘Heeramandi’ Season 2 is coming! Sanjay Leela Bhansali confirms new season of hit Netflix series