Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has refuted claims that his casting of actor Sharmin Segal in his debut streaming series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar was due to her being his niece. In an interview with India Today, Bhansali insisted that Sharmin's selection was based purely on her suitability for the role of Alamzeb, a naive young woman navigating the treacherous world of scheming courtesans and noblemen. “She has a face which is exactly what Alamzeb should be, somebody who doesn’t want to be a tawaif.
She doesn’t talk like a tawaif, she doesn’t walk like a tawaif,” Bhansali explained. “Her face had innocence, whereas all the others had lived life, they had survived manipulation and mental games. You needed somebody with a fresh, innocent quality to her.
.. I felt that Sharmin was the right choice for Alam, not because she’s my niece.
” Sharmin’s casting has not been without controversy, with her performance facing widespread criticism. Despite this, Bhansali maintained that Sharmin underwent a rigorous selection process. “She had to go through the grind.
There were innumerable tests, auditions. There’s no end to the number of tests I’ve done with her, even after I decided to cast her. I told her, ‘You have to go through the grind, you have to get it right, because this world you’ve never been to, you’ve never acted in.
All these other actors have worked over a period of time, they’ve played characters like this and have understood all these n.
