I am actually a huge fan of Yumna, I have watched most of the shows you mention and I agree she is top notch. Would compare her acting skills to the likes of SabaQ. I also agree that Sajal doesn’t have the same range as Yumna but she definitely benefitted from meeting a more conventional beauty standard. And has definitely worked on her craft and her handling of her personal life has helped her career.
Should these be the parameters to judge an actor’s talent? Not at all. But do we? Yes
In fact this is partially the reason Yumna lost a fan in me with TB. She may have become popular with this B grade written show, but did she need it? NO. In fact, from the 1st DT of TB I said Yumna is a phenomenal actress, she doesn’t need this OTT show. But she stated “this show I did for the masses” which is the definition of I want to become ‘popular’ and the nail on my super fandom coffin came when she said “Murtasim is a really really good character” from a script that had him rape his wife?!!! Come on! It is one thing to show support to your co-actor, it’s another to mislead your audience. I never ever thought I would say this but Yumna turned out to be quite naive or frankly underestimated her fans.
Again, I am happy for her that while she lost a fan in me, she gained many many fans who will now want her to play roles similar to meerab while I would be left craving for Zaara, bhaktawar, Ayeza, Uzma, Samra, Mahjabeen, Sumbal.
These are purely my views. I can only hope that her new legion of fans go back and watch her previous shows. Will I never watch a Yumna show again? Of course I will. But I will find it tough to associate Yumna with the kind of high quality I always associated her with. I am being terribly unfair, I know. But her IVs have irked me. Basically I am just the other side of the fandom spectrum…and that’s my cross to bear.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
363