“Standup Girl” has always been a fast-paced, character-driven story about the journey of a girl accepting her background and her family as her strength. However, at the start of Ramadan, “Standup Girl” went from airing three days a week (Friday to Sunday) to now airing one day a week (Friday). In the process, the pacing of the story has slowed greatly and, adding to the frustration, our lead characters have suddenly lost all semblance of likability. While it’s normal for shows to enter a brief lagging period, will “Standup Girl” turn things around quickly and the lead characters manage to win back favor? Starring Sohail Ahmed, Zara Noor Abbas, Daniyal Zafar, Adnan Shah Tipu, Saba Faisal, Saqib Sumeer, Tamkinat, Saad Azhar and others, the story has been written by Awais Ahmed and Adeel Afzal and directed by Kashif Nisar.
In episode 33, Kabir (Daniyal Zafar) continues to grapple with his identity. Meanwhile, Zara (Zara Noor Abbas) is burdened with finding the perfect moment to strike and unleash her anger on Kabir…..who has suddenly gone from being at her beck-and-call to becoming unreachable. Making things worse, Zara’s entire family has landed at Kabir’s home in their search for Zara. At this point, Zara and her family are now staying at Kabir’s family home as guests to hosts, including Kabir, who seemingly want nothing to do with them.
There’s a lot of frustration in this episode and it is coming from both sides. First, Zara arrived at Kabir’s home to hash it out with him. Her intention has been to break up with him on her own terms, a man who disappeared and basically “ghosted” her without any explanation. He has betrayed her – and she wants him to know this. Unfortunately, with his current stature, she can’t get anywhere near him and the moment she does find to speak to him, he shuts her down and escapes. The icing on the cake is when her family shows up. They mean well, as they are worried for her. But if we look at this situation from Zara’s point of view, she is not here to strengthen ties – she is there to break them and her family showing up is the last thing she wants. Furthermore, Zara has been raised by a single mother who trusted her enough to give her freedom. Zara isn’t used to this entire group of people keeping checks on her every move. She feels suffocated. While we, as an audience, feel that Zara is terribly ill-mannered, what she is feeling and how she is behaving makes sense in context. Zara Noor Abbas is doing a great job portraying this character, a character who is not always likable.
Of course, now it’s time to tackle Kabir. Daniyal Zafar has been doing a great job from the moment he appeared on screen, a natural actor. However, at present, Kabir’s actions are simply not understandable. Is it the fault of the writing or the acting…..or both? Kabir disappeared the night of the rap battle, because his father was murdered. Kabir stepped up to take his place – and that’s the life he is now living. Why did that stop him from making phone calls or texting his friends? If anything, his mother seems more welcoming towards his past relations than he is – though both are equally aloof and rude as hosts. Whatever reasons Kabir had for cutting off from his past, his behavior is the absolute worst, particularly when he tells Zara to stop embarrassing him and go inside. Leaving without an explanation is never acceptable and it’s honestly a huge question at present…..are Kabir’s actions actually redeemable moving forward?
The family are as lovable as ever. They see Kabir as their own and yet, their formal behavior upon seeing his background and who he has become is laughable – and sweet. They are both impressed by him and are also left analyzing the change in his demeanor. The scenes between Raju (Saqib Sumeer) and Hina (Tamkinat) are particularly cute while it’s heartbreaking to see Ameer Khan (Sohail Ahmed) ask why he’s having to put up with Zara’s misbehavior at this age. The entire supporting cast has gone beyond being a supporting cast…..they are our family.
“Standup Girl” continues to be a wonderful show, one to look forward to each week. But with the slowed pace, the episodes need to be more action-packed and, quite honestly, we’re no longer willing to put up with Kabir’s mysterious act. It has been over three weeks of this and we are as frustrated as Zara is. The show’s 3-episodes-a-week format would have worked well with this current plot, but with only one episode a week, it’s testing our patience. Can we go back to the original schedule please? And no, “Rafta Rafta,” which has taken “Standup Girl’s” spot on Saturdays and Sundays, is not worth this sacrifice.