Written by Neha Sharma, Vasant Nath and co-created by Ishita Pritish Nandy and Rangita Pritish Nandy, the underlying commentary on censorship cannot be denied in Ziddi Girls. And this is where the setup of Matilda High makes for an interesting character – a girls college with majority of the staff also being females who are taught to think and analyze the issues, that helps them find a voice. This form of non-conformity and the ability to question ‘facts’ (I so wish this is implemented everywhere else too in reality), starts from the top with their principal and staff being encouraging towards their students to ‘form an opinion’. Yet, the entire p*rn-gate incident does change the dynamics to a point that leads to the entry of their new principal Lata Bakshi (Simran), who is conservative with her thinking. She likes to believe that she supports democracy wherein, in a scene you see her giving the students a choice between getting back their old principal or juggling their curfew timings. In reality, this is only the start of the censorship era at Matilda High, much to the dismay of many students. Hence, Matilda High is also symbolic of the film industry that is constantly under the scrutiny of the Censor board (or a representation of people in a country wherein censorship and the cancel culture is more about repressing the thoughts rather than being encouraged to think and question facts).

The interesting aspect of the drama remains its characterization. Lata may seem to be conservative, but she isn’t entirely vilified when you get to know about the issues that she is facing from the higher management. There is an entire track about privatization of the institute whereas her whole fight is centered about education that is free. Hence, the balance that is maintained in her character is about right. Elsewhere, you are also introduced to the protagonists of the show – Paro (Sudhana), a rebel kid who is the first to voice her opinion and take a stand for something that is wrong. Apart from the opening act, there is another scene wherein you see her going on a hunger strike, just because she didn’t wish for an abusive student leader to enter her college premises. Vandana (Umang Bhadana) is interested in dramatics that makes her join a experimental drama group wherein she falls for an instructor, Tabassum aka Tabby (Zaina Ali) aspires to be an influencer while having to deal with frivolous problems of tracking the number of her followers. You also have Wallika (Deeya Damini), a handicapped young girl who is constantly at loggerheads with her roomie Devika (Anupriya Caroli), who is implied to be from a lower economic strata of the society, always aspiring for a scholarship while wishing to focus on studies that catches Lata’s eye (and her want to use her for her benefits). And then there is Trisha (Atiya Rana Nayak) who lacks motivation in her life while almost having to drag herself to college. In fact, her tryst with hockey is symbolic of her ‘goalless’ life, erupting out of her non-existent long distance love life, until she starts to look ‘elsewhere’ for ‘benefits’. Hence, the emotional vulnerabilities of all these characters are nicely explored on the show.

One of the recurring themes of the show remains friendship and unity, something that is frequently explored through a range of incidents. In a scene when all the girls choose to standup against an abusive student leader by heckling him onstage, even as Paro is at the hospital, you can feel the synergy of unity between the group. In another scene, you see a couple of characters quietly sneaking out of their cultural festival to ring up on her friend, after a shocking incident that transpires with her onstage, almost acting as pillars of support that represents friendship. In fact even during the fiasco onstage, you literally witness a band of girls rising in the moment to acknowledge her sentiments, even while being pillars of emotional support for her during times of travesty. The little issue that I had at times with the writing was on how superfluous the events get, even while trying to make a point about freedom of choice. The portions involving ‘cheating’ in a relationship is where I choose to draw the line, and hence the portions involving Trisha cheating on her boyfriend (well partly sexist, yes) felt like the writing wanting to make a statement rather than delving into her emotionally psyche in an organic manner.

Despite a few hiccups along the way, the writing doesn’t lose focus about the non-conformist theme that is prevalent in the drama. It is quick to highlight the importance of consent, even as a character completely stretches the limit without communicating to his co-star before she goes on-stage. In another scene, you see a group of characters calling out their principal and the trustees on their conservative and repressed behavior as a part of their ‘special’ performance. The narrative though remains balanced when you view it from Lata’s gaze, a woman representing the thoughts of the society that have in turn collectively repressed her mindset. There is fear in her underlying character trait, while willing to compromise with her own morals that truly grounds the narrative. The trigger is veiled as a late political subplot at the end that literally has themes of unity, friendship and non-conformity, that were playing individually at various instances on the show, literally come together. It was veiled as a commentary on how these factors literally can co-exist but need to come together to reform change while having to fight the repression, that was also symbolic of the finale shot. And that for me represented the core sentiments of the screenplay that made for a fun yet pondering watch (if you can dig deeper past the gloss and glam).