The Trial (2023):
Series Review -
Kajol makes a webseries debut in Suparn Verma's eight-episode series, "The Trial". Based on CBS' TV series "The Good Wife," The Trial is a testament to theoretical changes according to our society's trends. Suparn Verma has created a show for our audience, but the adultery features are still not appropriate for families. But otherwise, it's an honest adaptation of The Good Wife. If you are thinking The Trial is about bringing about good and necessary changes in family traditions, society, and the legal system, then let me tell you that you are absolutely wrong. An absolute wrong perception brings an absolute disappointment. So you better prepare yourself for something that's about betrayal and evil, be it any element of the series-drama, law and justice, profession, love, or promises.
Rajeev Sengupta's (Jisshu Sengupta) sex clip with a female escot goes viral, and so he is suspended from his law position. His wife, Noyonika (Kajol), is devastated but has to take care of the kids and the family, which leads him to step out of the house for a job. Her ex-boyfriend, Vishal (Alyy Khan), gives her a chance at his law firm as an intern on probation for 6 months. Noyonika's one and only competition is another intern, Dheeraj (Gaurav Pandey), who is the favourite of one of the bosses, Malini (Sheeba Chaddha). Noyonika's kids are feeling ashamed to go to school and public places since their dad's image is totally filthy. The case is pretty similar to Noyonika's, but she believes in fighting rather than running away. With new cases in hand, office pressure, her husband's case, and conspiracies, Noyonika tries to find, or better say, establish, her existence as a woman who can do anything.
The Trial is indeed about a lot of things, but sadly, it doesn't put in enough effort to complete at least one of them. It is about fighting for law and justice, but we see lawyers who are more interested in their clients' goodwill and business. It's about a woman who is betrayed by her husband, but we see her repeating the same mistake with a sort of extramarital affair. The Trial is also about the Media Trial and how it can destroy someone's life, but we see it getting scrapped by someone's medical condition rather than arguments in court. The Trial also tries its hands at love triangle, and believe me, it's a big flop there. Justice and Love needed purification here, but sadly, that didn't happen. Some of the cases actually start off on an interesting note but end up being mediocre. Somebody's medical insurance fraud deserves to be explained so that people will understand the loopholes and tricks, but the Trial has you finishing it off with political references. Nevertheless, The Trial attempts all the trending things in today's world, and I am glad that somebody took on this challenge. One of the major influences on these is social media, news headlines, and reality shows. But somewhere, it needed a little filtering for the children and family audiences since some of the characters represent them on screen.
The Trial gets all the actors to perform at their best. Kajol literally shines like a strong lead in this series, and I am happy to see her working so well in a longer format. Usually, a two-hour runtime may not be enough for her calibre, but webseries have that liberty. Except for a few prosthetic exposure shots, she looks absolutely stunning. Every episode ends with her poetic dialogue, and that, I believe, is what stays with you. Jisshu Sengupta has been underlined in this series, but he makes a good comeback in the concluding parts. Kubbra Sait has a good role with bad features, but she does fine. A couple of kissing scenes are becoming mandatory for webseries nowadays; therefore, Kubrra has them naturally. But what's surprising is that even Kajol couldn't stay far this time. Sheeba Chaddha is a total killer as the head of a law firm. She makes things so natural and easy for the co-actors and her director. The male cast of The Trial has also done exceptionally well, including Alyy Khan, Gaurav Pandey, Kiran Kumar, Swayam Joshi, and others. Haelyn Shastri, Sheena Chouhan, Nancy Gill, Nirbhay Jain, Manasvi Mamgai, Flora Saini, Suchitra Pillai, and the rest of the supporting cast are very nice.
Coming to the technical aspects, The Trial seemed decent. The cinematography and the background score could have been better since it was a sort of thriller with courtroom drama. The production design is fine, though. You know, we have been habitual of seeing long and wide courtrooms, when in reality, it's completely different. The Trial shows you how it is-from outside as well as inside. Suparn Verma's courtroom drama raises a lot of questions that have been raised before. What the law and justice's failure tries to suggest here is comparatively nothing in comparison to what we have seen in "Section 375" (2019). The feminism angle of a working woman is far too dated now. If you ask me what's new, I'd say the ending. That betrayal and that longing actually sounded better than the whole show. The Trial gains something and misses something, but overall, it's a standard legal family drama that makes for a decent watch.
RATING - 5/10*
