Sanjay Leela Bhansali On Niece Sharmin Segal's Performance In Heeramandi: 'She Kept Saying, ‘Mama, I’ll Underplay'

Sharmin Segal may have become the target of memes and criticism on social media but her uncle and 'Heeramandi' director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has something different to say about her

New Delhi: Sharmin Segal may have become the target of memes and criticism on social media but her uncle and 'Heeramandi' director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has something different to say about her. In an interaction with Hindustan Times, Bhansali spoke about his experience of working with Segal and Manisha Koirala.

Sharmin Segal is not new to a Sanjay Leela Bhansali set. Against popular opinion, she has been an AD on some of Bhansali's previous films. She made her acting debut with his 2019 production 'Malaal'. In Bhansali's streaming debut, Bhansali launched Sharmin as Alamzeb, the daughter of Heeramandi brothel madam Mallikajaan( Manisha Koirala), who dreams to be a poet and step outside the courtesan's fate.

However, the audience seems to have not liked her performance at all, calling it 'expressionless', 'stoic' and rather 'robotic.'

Sharmin and Bhansali are yet to open up about the criticism received their way. Rather, in an interaction with Hindustan Times, Sanjay Leela Bhansali spoke about working with his niece Sharmin on 'Heeramandi'.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali on his niece Sharmin Segal

“She kept saying, ‘Mama, I’ll underplay.' I said, ‘Underplay? Are you thinking I’m going to ask you to overplay?”

Bhansali also added that he found her 'new energy' fascinating. Stating that the younger lot of actors also loves him very much, Bhansali added, "I know that they (the new generation of actors) love me as much. I can see it in the way (they ask me), ‘Are you happy? Should we do one more take? Can we do it one more time? Are you okay? I can see that love in their eyes. Now that’s very rare."

Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Manisha Koirala

Talking about Manisha Koirala, who he first directed in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's period drama '1942: A Love Story, Bhansali said, "She sat on the set every time for 7 hours, putting mehendi and then giving two shots. She'd go home, put the mehendi for seven hours again the next day, give two shots again and then go home. It's unbearable," said Bhansali. 

“And yet she gave me the best takes in those two shots. The scene in which she says, ‘Chaand baramde mein utarta nahi.’ I knew she got her sur there itself. She looked just splendid. So each one is giving me something to take home,” he added.