Sharim Segal's performance on her uncle, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Netflix series, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, has been widely criticised. The actor has also faced backlash on social media for her recent comments about co-actors Aditi Rao Hydari and Sanjeeda Sheikh during Heeramandi interviews. Now, it seems that actor Sonal Chauhan is standing in support of Sharmin. 

'She's not the villain, you are'

The actor's recent Instagram Stories was shared on Reddit, in which she called out trolls attacking Sharmin and making her look like a 'villain' after her recent interviews. Sonal wrote without naming anyone, "It is so sad to see how social media/some Instagram pages are making a villain out of a person just because trolling them at this point will bring them a little more traction and engagement."

She added, "It is quite evident how videos are being manipulated to make this particular actor look bad or how statements out of the whole interview are being put there just because making them look bad is 'trending' right now. Don't forget that you started this trend and you're adding to it. You are adding to the narrative. One's onscreen performance does not define their entire character or personality. She's not the villain, you are." The actor added the hashtags 'shame on you', 'draw a line' and 'be human' to her post.

Reactions to Sonal's remark

One Redditor said, "Funny thing is Sharmin Segal's videos are not being manipulated in the slightest to make her look bad; trust I’ve seen most of the clips that get posted here that go viral and the interviews they’re pulled from. 98 percent of the time, there’s not a single cut or misrepresentation of the question being asked. That’s legitimately just what Sharmin said. She’s an obnoxious brat… who has no social awareness… and is a bully, but people online are bullies for recognising she’s a bully??"

Another wrote, “I'm sorry, I cannot decide which is worse – Sharmin's acting or her personality. The bootlicking needs to be stopped.”

What did Sharmin say

In one of Sharmin's recent interviews, she called her Heeramandi co-star Aditi Rao Hydari a 'school girl'. Sharmin said, “Aditi is a good schoolgirl, please understand that. Teacher will say you have to submit your home work at this time and Aditi will do exactly that and not one more word than the word count limit. That is Aditi for you. So, according to her everyone is late and she is on time."

Many on social media also thought Sharmin indirectly took a dig at Sanjeeda Shaikh for being an outsider in a recent interview. In an interview with Showsha, Sharmin negated her co-star's statement that Sanjay Leela Bhansali was a ‘perfectionist.’ Sheinterrupted Sanjeeda and said, “I think perfectionist is a very basic word to describe Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It’s the kind of a word that an outsider who has never worked with him, been on his set and seen the kind of director that he is will use that. He is much more than that…”