Shekhar Suman has been getting a lot of love for his portrayal of the character of Zulfiqar Ahmed in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directorial web show ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’, which released on May 1 on Netflix. He returned to the screen after a a hiatus, and was last seen in ‘Bhoomi’ (2017).
However, the actor mentioned that he wouldn’t say he made a “comeback” with the web series since he doesn't "work just for the sake of being seen". Shekhar told Indian Express, “I am quintessentially a theatre actor. It is never a comeback. You are just waiting for the right role to happen. There might be a hiatus, you give it a gap, because the role has to excite me. I don’t work just for the sake of being seen as a part of 10 OTT series, five films."
Further comparing himself to Dilip Kumar and Aamir Khan, he added, "I have taken a leaf from Dilip Kumar sahab. He used to probably do one film in two-three years. Aamir Khan… they all sort of preserve themselves in a manner that people have this thirst to watch them. There is no point getting steeped into mediocrity, that is very painful for an actor. In the midst of a show or a movie you realise that you’ve made a mistake. That’s the worst feeling.”
Shekhar asserted that despite having “a desire to be there, to be seen around”, he wants to do something that would challenge him.
Coming to ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’, the show is set against the backdrop of the Indian freedom struggle of the 1940s, and is an epic saga of love, power, revenge, and freedom. Besides Shekhar, the show also stars Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Sharmin Segal, Adhyayan Suman and Taha Shah Badussha.
