Jason Shah critiques Sharmin Segal's 'One-Tone' performance in 'Heeramandi'

Actor Jason Shah, known for his role as the villainous Cartwright in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s debut streaming series 'Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar,' addressed the criticism directed at his co-star, Sharmin Segal. In an interview, Jason seemed to concur with the prevailing opinion, acknowledging that Sharmin’s character had significant untapped potential that wasn't fully realized in the show.His remarks suggest a shared disappointment with how her role was executed, hinting at missed opportunities for deeper character development and more compelling storytelling.
In an interview with Entertainment LIVE, Jason Shah discussed Sharmin Segal’s performance in 'Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.' He described her acting as 'one-tone' but speculated that this might have been due to the direction she received from her uncle, Sanjay Leela Bhansali. When asked about the criticism and his experience working with her, Jason chuckled nervously, suggesting he was careful about what he said. “I thought, personally, there should have been a higher escalation of emotion in different places.”
Furthermore, 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 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.”
When asked if Sharmin was specifically told to give a muted performance, Jason said, “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. I didn’t feel it was fully explored. But I’m not the director.” Recently, actor Shekhar Suman defended Sharmin’s performance in a backhanded manner. He told ETimes that Sharmin’s character, Alamzeb, was ‘reticent’, and this required a muted performance. The show’s casting director, Shruti Mahajan, also defended Sharmin and told Hindustan Times, “She underwent the whole process just like other actors. The process for everyone was the same. They had to go through rounds of auditions and look tests.”
Sharmin Segal mentioned on the comedy show that she prepared for a year and went through 16 rounds of auditions for her role in 'Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar,' despite being Sanjay Leela Bhansali's niece. The show was released on May 1 to mixed reviews.