It was more than a year ago that Yumna Zaidi decided to sign on to her first movie. The script for her upcoming movie Nayab came to her while she was skittering between the shoots of two TV dramas — Bakhtawar and Tere Bin.

Both dramas have proceeded to become all-time hits and, having seen them, one knows that Yumna must have had her hands full enacting two completely disparate roles in projects helmed by two of the country’s biggest production houses. And yet, Nayab caught her attention.

It wasn’t the lure of becoming a cinema star which attracted her. It was Nayab’s story. Yumna recalls, “I remember going directly from the Tere Bin set to hear the narration of Nayab’s script. I then asked for a few days to make my decision but, when I got home, I wondered why I had asked for a few days at all. I called them right there and then and told them I was on board.”

She adds: “It wasn’t just for the sake of doing a film. There once used to be this notion that you had to make it big on the cinema screen in order to truly be a star. I don’t think that scenario exists anymore in Pakistan. Actors can prove their worth without working in the movies. But I was hooked to Nayab’s script and I just couldn’t let it go to anyone else.”

Now that Nayab is on the verge of releasing, Yumna is promoting the movie full-throttle. A video of her, recently uploaded on social media, shows her euphorically posing next to the movie’s gigantic posters, put up in various locations in Karachi.

She is among the most-loved and most talented actresses on television who also has an obsessive fan-following. And now, on the back of two super-hit serials, she is about to debut in the feature film Nayab — for which she learnt how to play cricket. Perhaps what sets this girl from Sahiwal apart from the rest is a total belief in her own powers and the value of challenging herself

In another video that she posted on her Instagram, she’s doing an impromptu dance to one of the songs from the movie, while attending a friend’s wedding. She’s also been touring the country along with other actors from the Nayab cast, particularly Usama Khan and Fawad Khan.

From malls to colleges to food festivals, her schedule has been jam-packed with promotional appearances and interviews. One such interview on her roster is her meeting with Icon.

She’s wearing a plum-coloured suit by Deepak Perwani when I meet her. It’s a glamorous, sophisticated look and, at some point during our conversation, she tells me that she’s planning to go all-out with different sartorial statements while promoting the movie.

I know, via the far reaches of her Instagram, that Yumna’s schedule is hectic but she doesn’t look tired at all. She laughs and gives interesting, detailed answers to even the trickiest questions that I volley at her.

I am reminded of how she has often told me that she loves challenges. She is referring to acting when she says this but the same sentiment could be applied to the way she has flitted through multiple interviews, possibly answering repetitive questions without looking bored. When the going gets tough, Yumna Zaidi tends to get going.

“I enjoy challenges, taking risks,” she tells me. “It’s when you break the formula by doing things differently that you click with the audience.”

The path less trodden

It would be fair to say that this predilection for taking risks makes Yumna’s career a cut above the rest. Her repertoire boasts a slew of diverse roles, some that can best be described as commercial hits — the record-breaking, colossally popular Tere Bin comes to mind — and others that are indubitable critical successes.

Many times, she has mastered the balancing act between critical and commercial acclaim, winning rave reviews as well as the ratings game.

“In the early years of my career, I deliberately didn’t opt for conventional roles,” she tells me. “It’s important to develop the audience’s taste for the kind of performances that you can deliver. If I would get offered five different scripts, I would often make some of the people who had approached me upset by choosing the least typical role.

“If I hadn’t done that, I would have run the risk of being typecast. Any time a drama has become successful, a number of similar scripts have started coming my way.”

I ask her to cite an example. “For instance, after Tere Bin’s success, I got offered a lot of romantic roles similar to my character Meerub in the drama. I would rather take a break and then return to the screen with something new. Like right now, Nayab is about to release and my drama Gentleman is currently getting recorded.”

Gentleman has an interesting dynamic, pulling punches with a prestigious list of credentials, headlined by Yumna and Humayun Saeed as the leads. Directed by Haisam Hussain, written by Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar and set to air on the fledgling Green Entertainment channel, the drama is much anticipated.

Did she have doubts being paired with Humayun Saeed, a veteran who is much-loved but is nevertheless, much older than her? “We both felt that no other script could have done more justice to us being paired on screen,” she replies. “And now, after having worked with Humayun Saeed, I have become a fan of his. He really puts in 1,000 percent into his acting, and he’s also such a good, humble person.”

Does she feel, though, that it will be difficult for her to achieve the same popularity with other heroes, as she has managed to do with Wahaj Ali? The two got famous as ‘YumHaj’ following the popularity of Tere Bin and, even months after the drama has ended, there’s a massive fandom on social media completely dedicated to their couple.

“It might be a challenge achieving the same popularity but I do think that there are fandoms dedicated to my previous dramas as well,” says Yumna. “There has been a positive response to my pairing with Usama, seen in the Nayab trailer. People have also really liked my on-screen pair with other actors, such as Ahmed Ali Akbar, Bilal Abbas Khan and Zahid Ahmed…”

It’s quite common, though, that the word ‘chemistry’ often surfaces in reviews of her work in dramas. Yumna’s a pro at on-screen romance — is she a romantic in real life too?

“No!” she laughs. “Maybe that is the reason why I manage to depict it well on screen! I always take on things as a challenge and I am very focused on doing it well. I have also worked with very dedicated actors, who are intent on making their scenes stand out.”

The Nayab world

We shift focus to Nayab — the reason why I am essentially meeting Yumna today. The movie, from the looks of the trailer, is cricket-centric, revolving around the story of its female protagonist, a cricket-crazy, emotional girl called Nayab, played by Yumna. It’s not your usual film story, I comment.

“Yes, but don’t you feel that Pakistani cinema has lately been trying to move away from the usual stories?” she asks me. “I feel that, right now, we are exploring what clicks with the Pakistani cinema audience. Our taste for what we find entertaining is different [from that of other countries] because of our religion and culture. Our cinema is slowly realising the need to tell our own stories in our own way [rather than get influenced by other film industries].

“And, yes, Nayab has an unconventional story. It’s about sports, family, relationships, emotions. It’s about the support that a girl gets if she wants to pursue a career, by the people around her, her brother, her partner.”

She has spoken quite often about having to learn how to play cricket in order to enact Nayab. Was it a difficult process?

“There were some rigorous training sessions,” she says. “I remember that I was shooting Tere Bin at the time. I would wake up at 6.30 in the morning, go to the gym, then go to my training session and, after that, put in 12 hours on the Tere Bin set. We practised for two-and-a-half months on both batting and bowling.”

She continues: “There was this one time when I was getting filmed bowling and my hand hit a pillar as I swung it backwards. I literally saw stars before my eyes! My finger got so badly bruised that I couldn’t properly use it for some time. I got many more bruises while shooting. I had been offered a body double but had decided that I wouldn’t use one. So I had to go through it all!” she laughs.

She’s really gone all out in promoting Nayab. Is it because she feels that it is difficult to lure the audience to buy tickets to see a movie?

“I think the actual goal is to convince people to take out the time to watch something, may it be a drama or a ticketed movie. Pakistanis have big hearts, despite everything they end up spending their money. But you have to somehow assure them that what they are going to see is worth their time.

“And Nayab has a wonderful story, it’s a good movie, we have all worked hard. I want to do everything I can to make sure that people come to the cinema to see it!”

The road to superstardom

Nayab may have its many advantages, but topping the list is the fact that it stars Yumna, who is veritably one of the country’s most loved, most popular stars right now. The clout that she wields is unprecedented — a quick search on X (formerly Twitter) reveals a colossal fanbase that is besotted with her completely.

Reels from her various dramas are uploaded by fans daily, her every comment on social media is followed avidly and she ends up trending at number one every second day. Does it sometimes surprise her when she is a top trend on Twitter?

Yumna laughs. “There have been times when I have logged on to X and have seen someone comment, ‘Why is she [Yumna] trending today?’ And I wonder to myself, yes, why? I love it, though — the YouTube and X trends and the way my fans love me and are possessive about me. Sometimes people tell me that my fans are crazy and I figure that they wouldn’t be fans if they weren’t crazy!

“I just feel that I have worked very hard to get where I am now and maybe that’s why everything has turned out so well. Sometimes you manifest something and you connect with the universe and, then, the universe gives back to you. 2023 had been a rollercoaster for me. A lot of good things happened all through last year.”

Yes, I agree, including the fact that she won two Lux Style Awards (LSAs) for her work in the drama Bakhtawar, in the popular as well as the critics’ choice categories. With five trophies to her credit, she is to date the actress to have won the highest number of awards in the TV category.

It’s interesting to note that Bakhtawar — a drama in which Yumna plays a young girl forced to dress like a boy in order to survive — was one that many other actresses had been apprehensive about doing. Yumna, though, had been enthusiastic about the role, even though it was a difficult one. Had she expected to win two trophies for her performance?

“I’ll be honest, I had felt that Bakhtawar would bring in at least one trophy. The second one was a wonderful surprise,” she confesses.

Have her peers’ attitudes changed towards her, given her current position as queen bee? “I really wouldn’t know,” she says. “I think that people have always been nice to me. The people that are within my own circle are at least all good people, and if someone is mean, I am blessed with the trait that I let go easily.”

Most-loved, top-rated, very talented, and with the charisma to incite crazed reactions within her audience, Yumna certainly seems to be riding the crest of the wave. Where does she see herself five years from now? She ponders over this.

“You know, I have always manifested the future for myself. Many years ago, when I was in first year or second year in college, I moved with my family from Sahiwal to Lahore. Our family home in Sahiwal had been quite big, while my father purchased a smaller home in Lahore, which he felt was more secure.

“I remember that I used to walk in a small passage in the house and I used to literally imagine myself receiving awards. My acting career hadn’t started off back then but I was foreseeing this future for myself.

“Perhaps I am not really manifesting anything for myself right now. Or perhaps I am, but it is personal, between me and the universe.”

What does the universe intend for Yumna Zaidi then? Whatever it is, it’s quite likely that the sky’s the limit.

Published in Dawn, ICON, January 21th, 2024