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Jason Shah has been grabbing attention for Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. The actor was seen as the villain, British officer Alastair Cartwright, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s debut web series. In an interview with NDTV, Jason opened up about his experience during the filming of the Netflix show, saying the atmosphere on set was fraught with ‘stress’ and there was a lack of ‘simple niceties’ during the shoot. Also read | Jason Shah on Sharmin Segal’s performance in Heeramandi: Sanjay Leela Bhansali kept telling her to act from the heart
‘I was not introduced to many people’
When asked if he was treated equally like any other actors performing on the Heeramandi set or if he faced discrimination, Jason said, “I found it (the set) to be lacking in the simple niceties of human nature. I felt like there were places where just ‘Hi Jason, this is this person, the director you will be working with today’ (could have been said). I was not introduced to many people over there, which I found very odd. I found it a little confusing in some ways.”
He added, “I started thinking, I am the villain (on the show), so maybe they want the villain to be angry and disconnected from everybody. But me being connected to a human being on set never really boils over to my character onscreen. I felt a little bit out of place in some places, but I guess you keep on going with the flow of things and pick it up from wherever.”
‘Sanjay said a very silent hi’
Recalling his first meeting with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Jason said, “I was sitting inside one of the rooms in his office. I had the script in my hand, and that’s when he came in and started nonchalantly looking through a cupboard. He then looked over and said a very silent, ‘Hi.’ It wasn’t an introduction of sorts. I realised later that he had come to see me to check if the guy that he chose would be able to carry it off.”
About the show
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s debut web series premiered on Netflix on May 1. The show is set in pre-partition India and revolves around courtesans, who wielded a lot of power and influence during the country’s freedom struggle. It stars Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Richa Chadha, Fardeen Khan, Taha Shah, Shekhar Suman, Adhyayan Suman, Farida Jalal, and Indresh Malik. Netflix recently announced a second season of the series as well.
