Veteran actress Farida Jalal has extended support to her Heeramandi co-star Sharmin Segal, who was brutally trolled for her 'expressionless' performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's show. Sharmin has been at the receiving end of criticism ever since Heeramandi released on OTT last month. Viewers slammed her for not being at par with the other actresses in the show.
After the show's release, netizens also cried 'nepotism' for Sharmin, given the fact that she is director Sanjay Leela Bhansali's niece. The actress was even trolled under her social media posts, so much so that she had to turn off the comments.
Now, in an interview with India Today, Farida Jalal said that people should be kind and that she is unhappy with the response Sharmin has received from critics as well as the audience.
"Sharmin did her best as per her capacity. I don’t think her character needed to be very boisterous, and loud. That was not her role. What were you expecting?" the veteran star said.
Questioning those who are constantly trolling Sharmin, even after a month of the web series' release, Farida Jalal said, "Perhaps, what you thought you would see her character doing, you didn’t. But that’s okay. Why should one be rude to her? She is a poet, and she falls in love with Taj and that’s it."
In the show, Farida Jalal played the role of Qudsia Begum, Taha Shah Badussha's character's grandmother.
Talking about Sharmin, besides being criticised for her acting, the actress was also slammed for trying to belittle Sanjeeda Sheikh and for 'disrespecting' Aditi Rao Hydari and Richa Chadha in different interviews.
Heeramandi has emerged to be one of the most watched series to have released this year, and while the show was lauded as was the cast, Sharmin was the only one who was bashed for her unimpressive acting chops in the magnum opus.
