It is confirmed now that actor Usama Khan will star along side nation’s darling Yumna Zaidi in the sports film ‘Nayab’. This will be the first time the two will be co-starring together on the big screen.
Yumna Zaidi set expectations high when in an interview with Independent Urdu, the actress revealed that her character Nayab is a girl from Karachi who dreams of becoming a cricketer, but is hesitant to follow her dreams, fearing patriarchal society backlash.
“It’s a brilliant story and it is meaningful,” the ‘Tere Bin’ actress gushed. “The whole team is trying their best to execute it the way it should be. Now that we’ve chosen good content, we want to do justice with it so that the audience also enjoys it when they go to the cinema.”
Speaking about how much she has been practicing to learn how to play cricket, admitting that she had never picked up a bat or ball before this shoot.
“I believe that cricket is almost a craze in Pakistan but I don’t know why or how but I had never picked a bat or ball before this shoot. I have been practising a lot. From the initial ABCs of cricket to practice matches on the final pitch, it’s been a long process and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
But Yumna elaborated that she did her best to learn all she could about the sport in an effort to do justice to her character, to avoid stereotyping the role
“When you’re trying to perfect an accent for a role, or representing a tribe in a drama, you have to work very hard to avoid stereotyping them. It’s the same with this role. All of my attention, my focus has been here. I want to do justice to this character, to this girl who worships cricket.”
Yumna became uber-popular with her portrayal of Meerab in the drama ‘Tere Bin’. Her co-lead and real-life best friend Wahaj Ali has gone to greater heights with the Green Entertainment drama ’22 Qadam’. We are happy to witness the two consistently setting the bar higher, and reviving the sports genre that the Pakistani entertainment industry truly needed.
