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Join UsActor Taha Shah Badussha reacts to trolling around his Heeramandi co-star Sharmin Segal’s performance and his accent at Cannes.
Actor Taha Shah Badussha is in the best phase of his career. His portrayal of Tajdar Baloch in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus is getting him all the love, fame and adulation. And he recently made his debut at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
“It has been uphill for the past three weeks,” says Taha describing his ridr to the national crush status and the audience lapping up his turn as Tajdar.
“I feel shocked. Andar se mujhe yakeen tha ki ek na ek din log mujhe pasand karenge, but didn’t realise that it will happen so suddenly. If you get something after working hard for 15 years, you feel very grateful,” adds the actor.
From enjoying a modest following on social media to being hailed as the National Crush, Taha is gobsmacked about how the number of likes on his posts has shot into lakhs from a few hundred.
“I didn’t expect something like this coming, yeh bahut badi cheez hai. Mere posts par 500-600 likes aate the and pata nahi aisa kya hua hai that they have gone in lacs. This whole National crush thing is very humbling,” he shares, attributing his newfound status to Bhansali’s vision and the audience’s reception.
“Main wahi same banda hoon pichle itne saal se. It is because of Mr. Bhansali and people, he presented me in such a way. I feel that Tajdar is the National crush, Taha bas ek zariya hai. I am what people have made me today. I hope every character becomes a national or international crush, that’s very encouraging,” he gushes.
The Bhansali directorial has also spelt a brutal phase of trolling for Taha’s co-star Sharmin Segal who portrays the role of his love interest, Alamzeb.
“I spoke to her at the success party and she was very happy. Sharmin is a very strong person and she knows exactly what she is doing. She will get through this. There are so many people have also liked her performance. Whenever I have worked with her, I have seen her give her best. You can’t really demand more from a person,” says the 36-year-old, adding, “I am no one to speak about how the audience perceives something, that is in no one’s control. I have been on the other side as well, when the audience didn’t accept me, but now I have been accepted, so it’s a journey. It’s a phase that many people have to go through.”
With films such as Luv Ka The End (2011), Gippi (2013), and Baar Baar Dekho (2016) to his credit, Taha finally got to make his Cannes debut, where he launched the poster of his film, Paro.
He describes the experience of his Cannes debut as “phenomenal”. He elaborates, “Cannes is an animal. When you enter there, you understand the magnanimous event that it is. This city had a throbbing energy with creative geniuses. I believe that being in such a place gives you International exposure and to build some long lasting connections. Every year now, Cannes will be on my list. Many people from different countries were calling me Tajdar there, so they were recognising me because of Heeramandi, which is great.”
Like many Indians who attend Cannes, Taha, too, had his share of criticism when some trolled him for his accent at the French Riviera.
Unfazed by these comments, he says. “I was born in Dubai. I studied in the UK, US, and here, so my accent is all over the place. I have no single accent and I am an actor, my acting keeps changing. I accept my change and I hope that it keeps changing.”
