The Trial

Web Series Review: the Trial streaming on Disney+ Hotstar #sanjuzzreviews #thetrialonhotstar #TheTrial #DisneyPlusHotstar #kajol #JishuSengupta #SheebaChaddha #kubrasait

An adaptation of the American Series, The Good Wife, The Trial is the story of an ex-lawyer Nyonika Sengupta ( Kajol) who has quit practice to focus on her family. She is forced to return to work after her husband Rajiv ( Jishu Sengupta) who is an additional judge, is jailed on charges of sex & corruption. It showcases her struggles in the courtroom especially after being out of action for a decade and how she overcomes one obstacle after another to emerge a winner.

I haven't watched the American series and hence my review of this series is purely a standalone one without comparing it with the original. So here goes ...

The storyline is crisp & well edited. It has good production value, a stellar cast who have done an awesome job. There are some minor loopholes here and there but these can be discounted!!

Some members of the cast worth mentioning would be... Alyy Khan who plays Vishal , Nyonika's ex- boyfriend. Sheeba Chadda ( Malini ) who has essayed the role of Nyonika's boss , Kubra Sait as Sana who is Nyonika's subordinate at work and a well wisher.

Kajol is great as the protagonist even though she goes overboard at times. But to cut her some slack , a decent performance overall.

Ritu Raj & Kiran Kumar are however wasted in miniscule roles.

The climax isn't over dramatic & the season ends on a logical note !! Season 2 is definitely coming !!

Decent watch !! However if you compare it with similar dramas like Dirty Minds & The Broken news, I found the above 2 better .

Going with 3/5 for this one .. Adios 🙂!!

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*

The titular Trial is practically non existent and while one would assume this is a legal thriller, one would be sorely mistaken. The struggle that they desperately try to showcase is non existent, almost as if Kajol had given clear instructions that her time on the show should be as comfortable as possible and her struggle resembles that of a Bollywood star kid.

The trial is also poorly captured, depicted and executed and almost seems to be the background artist of the show unlike what the title seems to convey unless maybe there is a personal and social trial also happening but maybe that episode seems missing.

Poor casting, terrible acting and misguided direction seem to be the only consistent parts of the show. It's almost like Ajay Devgn was planning a holiday for his better half with some mild work thrown in, and here she has done enough to challenge the better part of the better half title.

Characters are all over the place. Even stalwarts have been reduced to one dimensional, almost caricaturish representations of what they could have been.

I was excited to watch Kajol as a lawyer first time in her career. But all expectations faded away after watching the series because it was centered around the family drama instead of the court room drama and whatever they have shown failed to entertain me.

Kajol as lawyer was missing most of the time, I would have love to watch her debating in the court in spite of having personal problems. The start look promising and setting stage for that court room drama but as it progressed further into more episodes that excitement ended. Characters are good and performed well but Disney-hotstar need to inspire from Criminal Justice for this series.

Anwar Says: I was waiting for this series, not disappointed but not happy either. Adapted from GOOD WIFE, the American web series is not simply a courtroom drama but sheds light on impact of media trial, love triangle , family feuds, behaviour of children on father's betrayal, however unable to conclude. Suparn S Verma should have gone deeper into the screenplay and may have been a better outcome.

Kajol is probably the best actress of this era and she as a multifaceted and resilient woman shines both in courtroom scenes ,as well as in emotional family scenes and handling the growing children. Kubra Sait as Sana is such a cool character and is an integral part of the series and so Alyy Khan putting huge mark. Sheeba Chaddha, Kiran Kumar , Gaurav Pandey and Amir Ali have put their best.

Trial touched some very important cases of social importance but not able to bring it to logical end and it was also shocking to see a top law firm has allowed an intern to handle such sensitive cases . Kiran Kumar leaving the firm for absolutely no reason is als unconvincing. Watch it for Kajol only.

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