Yumna Zaidi: I Wanted to Play the Prostitute’s Role in ‘Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi’

The ‘Thakan’ actress opens up on taking on a challenging role like ‘Sumbul’

Yumna Zaidi

Yumna Zaidi has come a long way from a supporting role in Thakan we first saw her in. Now the actress is known for taking on more challenging and thought-provoking roles.

In an interview with Something Haute, she talked about her favourite characters this past year. She called 2019 onwards her best year. Since Inkaar, this artist has been on a roll.

“I usually sign two projects a year but in 2019 I signed up for four; one cameo in Ishq Zahe Naseeb, and then Raaz-e-Ulfat, Pyar Ke Sadqay and Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi. I didn’t sign anything for 2020 and then the pandemic enveloped the world. So, it was a great year for work as I got to work on different characters.”


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Currently, her project with Kashf Foundation’s, Dil Na Umeed Tou Nahi (DNUTN) is making waves. Her fierce and resilient Allah Rakhi/Sumbul in DNUTN is a character that has touched us all. She opened up about her reasons for taking on this role.

“Firstly, Kashif Nisar doesn’t make projects with an aim to sell them. Amna Mufti has written a beautiful story and then I always had an idea that this will not air on any of the top three TV channels. I also knew that this has multiple tracks and stories. Also, I wanted to do this because it was a prostitute’s role. Now, the kind of personality, face, and physique I have, I felt that no producer or director will offer me such role in the future because I don’t have those qualities i.e. nazakat etc that usually are required for these characters.”

Despite having a great year, 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic affected even Yumna Zaidi. She mentioned how it was difficult getting back into character after the shooting was suspended for 8-9 months.

“You will notice that my face is healthy in some of the scenes because I ate a lot when we were sitting in isolation in America. So, it was tricky for me to maintain the emotions that Sumbul was going through at that time. I wasn’t happy with the scenes because I thought that I have not done justice to what Sumbul was feeling as I have never experiences any kind of addiction or its withdrawal. I felt I did the scenes on a very high note, so they will look disconnected. However, when I saw Sumbul on screen, I realized that it worked.”


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Despite her mojo being affected, there’s no doubt she did a phenomenal job. She was overwhelmed by the positive feedback minus Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). Yumna even added how she hasn’t received any negative feedback from the audience.

On the other hand, Yumna Zaidi also discussed her upcoming big project with Amin Iqbal, Ishaq-e-La. This drama serial will cast Sajal Aly and mark Azaan Sami Khan’s drama debut. Qaiser Hayat penned the script.  She was pretty hush-hush about the details wanting to leave it as a surprise for fans.

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