Stunning, sensuous, Sumi!

Marking her debut on the silver screen with Gias Uddin Selim's "Paap Punno", Shahnaz Sumi has continued to prove herself with projects like "Damal", "Buker Moddhye Agun", and "Mobaroknama".

The dancer-turned-actress dropped by The Daily Star for an exclusive photoshoot and some chit-chat.

Sumi, who is a trained dancer, began her acting career in 2016, yet, it took her a little time to get noticed. The actress believes in moving slowly, and over time, she is visibly stepping towards the peak of her career. "I have always been cautious about the roles I pick," she said. "However, each of the characters I was fortunate enough to play had its own spark and identity, although none of them were 'headlining' roles in the traditional sense!"

While discussing her work pattern, Sumi highlighted the fact that she doesn't want to do repetitive roles. "I want to have a lot of variety under my repertoire, so if I get any offer that I feel is similar to my previous work, I don't sign off on it."

Golam Sohrab Dodul's web-series "Mobaroknama" was one of the most important projects for the actress. Her portrayal of Suraiya, sharing the screen with a powerful actor like Mosharraf Karim, brought her widespread acclaim. Does the actress call it a turning point in her career? She replied, "I believe that an artiste's career has no 'turning point' or 'U-turn', it is basically a stairway till retirement. As for "Mobaroknama", Suraiya gave me an elevator."

How was the journey of becoming Suraiya? Sumi shared, "Suraiya is a strong persona, and the way she was presented on-screen, it was pretty challenging to convince people to accept it."
She continued, "If I portrayed her as too 'spoilt', it would be hard for the audience to side with her. Hence, there was a delicate balance that I had to adhere to, and I am glad that the character was loved."

The young star gives most of the credit for this success to her co-star Mosharraf Karim. What is something new that she can share with us about the acting juggernaut that is Mosharraf Karim? She responded, "Mosharraf bhai taught me many techniques of acting, which I can showcase in my next work, hopefully!" Sumi further recalled some bits of her experience with the great actor. "When he realised that I have immense interest in learning, he used to give me suggestions and would even ask me after his scenes, 'Can you tell me why I paused after that line?' among many other questions." The Home Economics student hopes to work with Mosharraf Karim again sometime.

Sumi was just a second-year student when she made her silver-screen debut. The actress, who is a final year student now, mentioned that she would have become a medical professional, if not an actress. "I am studying Child Development & Social Relationships, and I want to work in this sector. However, I am highly interested in subjects like Criminology, Public Health, and Early Childhood Development, and if I get the opportunity, I surely want to develop my skills in one of these fields and pursue my career in it."

Sumi humorously concluded that she wants to have a job where she can sign her own leave application, whenever she needs it, for her dream of acting.