‘If I were older, I would’ve played Noor Jahan’: Hajra Yamin

Actress Hajra Yamin is making waves with her performance as Sumbul in the drama Noor Jahan.

Recently, Hajra appeared as a guest on Gloss Etc by Maliha Rehman where she was asked, “If it was up to you, would you play Sumbhal or some other character?”

The Noor Jahan actress replied, “I would play Sumbul. I would definitely choose Noor Jahan if I were older. What a character and what an amazing job. Negativity aside, she is such a powerful woman. I love it.”

The host asked, “Is Saba Hamid as strict in real life as she portrays her characters, like Noor Jahan? Does she have a similar presence off-screen?”

Hajra Yamin said, “I will be very honest with you. Sometimes we feel that the people who seem very strict are actually more scared of us than we are of them. Maybe they have social anxiety; this is a very general statement, you know, because I have a little bit of social anxiety myself, which sometimes comes across as arrogance. Saba Aapa….the talent she has, the figure that she is, I was a bit anxious about how it would be. A lot of my work is with her, or has been with Kubra Khan, but it was nice, and she was clear about who should do what. There was one thing that was good, where I was a bit scared, but then there was Musadik, and he said, ‘No, Azaam, we’ll do it this way, and it’ll be fine.’ I said, ‘Alright, okay.’

“You know, I sometimes forget my lines. Saba Appa doesn’t forget her lines. She is a pro. Oh, she is so good. She is so good that she instantly remembers her lines. And the performance we saw on screen was amplified from what we saw firsthand. The gestures, the way she glared, the stern tone, she never shouted, but the sternness in her voice, in certain words, she emphasized it. And that was not missed by anyone. What I am really happy about is that the nuances of this story are visible to everyone,” Hajra Yamin added.

Noor Jahan is written by Zanjabeel Asim Shah and directed by Musadik Malek. It airs on ARY Digital on Friday and Saturday at 8:00 PM.