Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) directed the Netflix drama Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar released on 1st May. And in almost the month it has been out it has certainly been a divisive show, with some loving the aesthetics and typical SLB vibes while others not meshing with the lack of storyline or plot, historical inaccuracies, overdramatisation, plotholes and many other issues with the overall structure of the show.

One of the biggest topics was Sharmin Segal’s role as Alamzeb, considering the actor was revealed to be the daughter of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s younger sister and thus his niece.

The role of Alamzeb was a pretty prominent one, being given a lot of screen time as per the audience and many criticised Sharmin’s lack of acting ability.

While some did initially defend her, saying the character was created as such and that she was not all that bad, the audience’s perception of the actor has just worsened in light of some recent interviews that have come out. So the question is, why does the internet dislike Sharmin Segal so much?

Aditi Rao Hydari

Sharmin Segal in a recent interview with IMDB spoke about Aditi’s punctuality on sets and how it made the rest appear late.

She said, “Aditi is a good school girl, please understand that. Teacher will say you have to submit your home work at this time and Aditi will do exactly that and not one more word than the word count limit. That is Aditi for you. So, according to her everyone is late and she is on time.”

Netizens did not appreciate the way this was spoken and called out Segal for being overly rude to a senior. One said, “So, she doesn’t like Aditi doing her job?” while another wrote, “She’s speaking of her as if Aditi is her toddler or something. Ooof. She’s a senior actor compared to her. Why this foul attitude.”

Sanjeeda Sheikh

Before this another clip went viral where Segal seemed to be calling her co-star Sanjeeda Shaikh an outsider.

When Sanjeeda was asked about working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, she said, “He is just a perfectionist. He wants everything to look not mediocre because whatever he does is nothing less than excellence. He is respected all around the world for his brilliant creative mind and incisive honesty towards his craft. He will expect his artist to give that honesty on screen. So I enjoyed all sorts of roops of Mr. Bhansali.”

Segal, however, out of nowhere contradicted Sanjeeda’s words and said, “I think perfectionist is a very basic word to describe Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It’s the kind of a word that an outsider who has never worked with him, been on his set and seen the kind of director that he is will use that. He is much more than that.

He adapts to change very well. He keeps challenging through different things. It is not about being perfect. He looks for rawness, magic, spontaneity. If he was only a perfectionist he would not treat spontaneity the way he does.”

Read More: “You Shouldn’t Be In This Profession,” Parineeti Chopra Shares Truth Bombs In Podcast

Sonakshi Sinha

Another clip that went viral in the recent few days was of an interview with Entertainment LIVE where the cast of Heeramandi are discussing actors and insecurity.

The cast was questioned about female actors being insecure and while answering that Manisha Koirala said how even male actors were insecure and Richa Chadha revealed how “I know a male actor who increased the BGM in my dialogues,” Sharmin added her own two cents.

She interjected with “Actor ki jaat insecure hoti hai (Actors are inherently insecure),” to which Aditi replied, “No, but actors are human beings,” but Sharmin cut her off adding, “If you’re not insecure, I mean, let’s leave Sona (Sonakshi Sinha) out of this because Sona is the most secure person I know. But genuinely, insecurity main bhi koi jaadu hoti hai (There is some magic in insecurity too).” 

Sonakshi seemed to be confused about what was happening and broke into laughter while Aditi said, “No no, insecurity is horrible. No, I don’t like it.”

https://twitter.com/belikesami/status/1793485436666696141

The problem people seem to be having with Segal’s recent interview bites is how her statements are coming across as entitled, bordering on rude especially when both the critics and regular audience are criticising her professional work.

That along with the allegations of nepotism, considering her being Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s niece and getting such a prominent role in a show while not matching up in acting prowess with the rest of the cast has left a sour taste in the audience’s mind.

Several posts have been going around with one user writing, “sharmin segal is making too many mean expressions in interviews with her colleagues for someone who made none on camera lmao” and another commenting, “so Sharmin is not just a bad actor, she is a bad coworker and a bad human too”.

One user wrote, “the audacity to say all that for somebody who paved their way through genuine hardwork and learning the craft – while you are just a product of privilege and all them fillers and yet u get to sit beside them and all u be salty and bit¢hy? thats just outright abhorring.”

Priyanka Roy, Assistant Editor for t2 Telegraph posted of her own experience with Segal writing, “I interviewed all 6 leading ladies together for @t2telegraph before the release of Heeramandi & was annoyed by how Sharmin would interrupt, talk over far more senior actors & give her highly unnecessary two-bits when not even asked. Extremely entitled without an ounce of talent”.

Many also called out her supposed botox or face enhancement procedures they feel she has gone through and how that might be hindering her from creating the proper expressions.

People online have also repeatedly commented on how Segal’s character in the show always has an off-focus look to her, pointing out how she is in many scenes looking into the distance or not focused on the character she’s addressing but somewhere else. Some also pointed out how Segal is almost always giving this strange smiling expression in the show, even when the situation is very sombre or sad.

Image Credits: Google Images

Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth

Sources: Hindustan Times, Firstpost, The Indian Express

Find the blogger: @chirali_08

This post is tagged under: Sharmin Segal, Sharmin Segal interview, Sharmin Segal heeramandi, heeramandi, heeramandi show, heeramandi sanjay leela bhansali, sanjay leela bhansali, sanjay leela bhansali Sharmin Segal, sharmin segal movies, sharmin segal mama, sharmin segal aditi rao hydari, aditi rao hydari, sanjeeda sheikh

Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, or copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.

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