Don’t judge my character: Sharmin Segal
Some people perceived her as a privileged industry insider, who was unkind to the outsiders
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.
She said that she received support from her ‘Heeramandi’ costars, who called to check in on her.
“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 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 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’ costars 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’s your right to judge my work, but I am not giving you to judge. I am open to good, bad and everything about you judging me for my craft, but when you judge me, it does somewhere play on my mind. This is where social media responsibility would come into play, which I don’t think exists today.”
The criticism that Sharmin has received for her ‘Heeramandi’ performance has affected her