Sanjeeda Shaikh draws parallels between her real life and Heeramandi character Waheeda: ‘Meri zindagi mein kuch hua tha…’

Sanjeeda Shaikh played the role of Waheeda, a tawaif in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's debut web series. The actress said while emoting Waheeda's pain she felt hurt and terrible.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: May 22, 2024 04:38 PM IST

3 min read

Sanjeeda Shaikh plays the role of Waheeda. (Photo: Sanjeeda Shaikh/Instagram)

Sanjeeda Shaikh, who arguably played the complex character of Waheeda in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s debut web series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, recently revealed how she mixed a little bit of Sanjeeda with the role of Waheeda and drew parallels between her real and reel life characters. Sanjeeda’s character, who fought throughout for power, relevance and existence in the period-drama series, in an interview with Connect Cine shared how she brought her real life experiences in use while emoting the pain of Waheeda.

Sanjeeda in her interview revealed how it wasn’t planned but she felt hurt and terrible while emoting Waheeda’s pain. She said, “A part of your personality is always there in the character what you are playing. I am not saying Sanjeeda is exactly like Waheeda but, I think everyone goes through phases in life where you have sad phases and good phases. And, what one learns from that sad phases is that you come up and you look for a brighter future and from the good phases you wanna keep them forever in your life.”

The Fighter star added while playing the character of Waheeda she learnt to enjoy the dark side of her story. “But, of course, when you are doing a character like Waheeda, one thing I learnt that you enjoy the dark side of your story… also, which is very good as a performer. You have to enjoy the dark side of your story ki han bhai mere zindagi mein kuch hua tha and that time what I felt… I felt hurt, I felt terrible and if you can while emoting I don’t keep that in my mind but its there in my heart which is gonna stay right? And as a performer then you perform and emote and you forget about it and the same goes for my life,” she added.

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Sanjeeda, who was in news after she divorced her husband Aamir Ali in 2021 talked about how she doesn’t sulk over her past and is proud about her journey. She said, “I am not somebody who will be sulking, who will be regretting. I am just very proud of my journey and so happy that whatever happened in my life had a reason, it happened, and its beautiful to come out from that and lead a life, the life which I wanted to lead.”

Heeramandi, which Sanjay Leela Bhansali claims to be his biggest project ever, is currently streaming on Netflix. The show also stars Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, and Sharmin Segal in the lead roles. The web show also marked the return of actor Fardeen Khan after a gap of 14 years.

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