Zoya Nasir – Playing a Bully in Bas Tera Saath Ho

The actress breaks down her venomous character Shehreen in a candid chat with Nadia Khan on Rise and Shine.

Zoya Nasir is having a moment, and she knows it. The actress, who first captured audiences with her breakout role in Hania, has been riding a wave of acclaim for her latest project Bas Tera Saath Ho, where her portrayal of the venomous Shehreen has earned both critical praise and a fiercely engaged viewership. Recently, she sat down with veteran host Nadia Khan on the Rise and Shine show to unpack what it takes to inhabit a character that viewers love to hate.

Zoya Nasir has steadily built one of the most versatile filmographies in Pakistani television. From the emotional depth of Deewangi and Mere Humsafar to the layered storytelling of Zebaish, Badzaat, Kaffara, and Noor Jahan, she has proven her range across genres. Now, with Bas Tera Saath Ho, she has taken on perhaps her most polarizing role yet — a college-going entitled bully whose casual cruelty has struck a nerve with audiences across the country.

In the interview, Zoya revealed that writer Qasim personally reached out to her for the role of Shehreen, laying out the character’s psychology from the start. “She is an entitled bully because that’s how her mother raised her,” she explained. What fascinated Zoya about the part was the internal logic of a negative character. “Negative characters don’t see themselves as negative. If you try to portray a negative character as consciously negative all the time, it ends up looking very artificial. Even the most negative person in the world sees himself as justified and believes he is doing something positive for the world.” She leaned into the script’s already sharp dialogue, noting that Shehreen’s lines were “full of venom and negativity” from the page. To nail the physicality, Zoya studied real college students — their nonchalant body language, their understated expressions, the way they deliver cutting lines with an almost gentle calmness. “When they say very serious things in a calm and gentle manner, it becomes even more impactful,” she said. At the core of Shehreen’s bitterness is a child’s warped sense of inheritance: “Because of her parents, Shehreen thinks that a boy has come into her home who is taking away the share that rightfully belongs to her. And when children are growing up, whoever our mothers said was bad automatically seemed bad to us. We didn’t really have our own judgment at that age.”

It is this kind of meticulous character work that separates a forgettable villain from one that dominates water-cooler conversations. Zoya has clearly done her homework, and audiences are responding. With Bas Tera Saath Ho still unfolding, the question on every fan’s mind is just how far Shehreen will go — and whether Zoya Nasir has another transformative performance waiting in the wings after this one wraps.