Trial by Fire

This series MOVED me A LOT!!

After a long time, Netflix has come with something original and completely brilliant. I expected this series to be good but it turned out to be Marvelous.

This series is beautifully written and very well directed. From the first min, the series is able to build much needed tension and hooks the audience. The series is paced so well..& nothing is exaggerated.

I have seen some of the best performances in a long time.. all the actors did a great job. But Abhay Deol and Rajshri Deshpande stole the show.. the did complete justification to their role and helped the audience in connecting with the horrifying pain of the actual parents who went through this.

More and more people should watch this. These people are real heroes and should be celebrated.l more.

This was one of the best series (or even movies) that I have watched in a long time. I remember hearing about the incident back in the 90s, but really do not recall much aside from that. This drama told the story in such a great way... uncovering details at an excellent pace, and really making one feel they were watching things unfold in real time.

Rajshri Deshpande is absolutely incredible as the grieving mother, who lost her only two children to the avoidable tragedy. She goes on to lose herself in fighting against very rich, powerful people in an effort to find even a speck of justice.

Her portrayal of a grieving mother is as good a performance as you are going to see almost anywhere. Absolutely riveting! She should win awards for this. She does an incredible job!

While a sad, frustrating series to watch, I cannot recommend it enough. Outstanding!

Netflix

At one point of time in the last episode, it felt like my living room is filling up with smoke and I could smell the acrid fumes of the burning theater. The series waits until the very last episode to actually depict the tragic event and completely focuses on languish of the grieving parents, and their toil through the court case with a foregone conclusion through its first six episodes.

The parents grinded away for 25 years fighting the losing battle through the gut-wrenchingly prolonged delay when the rich and the powerful were afforded privileges of tampering with evidence, skipping court dates and pushing dates further and further away at their will. The listless melancholy that envelopes the series and the languid pace that is maintained is tactfully designed for the viewer to actually experience some of the drudgery in the comfort of their living room. It is not a court room drama; it is not a series that ends on high note or preach any social message. It takes you on a time-travel ride to 1997 and lets you be a bystander outside Uphaar cinema as the fire rages on and people perish. And while your outside escapes the fire, your inside smolders to black charcoal. It numbs you to hopelessness and you feel indifferent to the sheer absurdity of locking people in the balcony seats of a theater and the gross unaccountability of the several failures that culminates to the entire tragedy.

In one scene, when some of the hapless victims are trying to push the theater door trying to escape fire and others are pushing back because there is no room on the other side, the series will actually suffocate you. Every thump on the door will be felt inside your gut...

I wish to comment on so many other things, from acting, direction, cinematography, story, dialog etc. But my feelings about the series can be summed up in just one sentence: "Maybe some things last forever after all" (Luke Combs). It's a product of so much love, care, heart and courage by the whole team, especially by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, the parents of the two children who are credited with the story, that the series will live inside every viewer for their lifetime.

It is heavy and intense. The tragedy is heart breaking and it is very well depicted in the series. The makers have used liberties to add some fictional characters to make it in an episodic form but totally justified. You will never feel anytime that anything has been taken lightly and genuine respect is given to the victims. I am glad that Netflix is giving importance to such events and producing a show like this. All the actors have done great job and the way the story unfolds is great. I wish more and more people watch this show as it is an important one. Trail by Fire is a great example how to make a real event show.

The biggest grief a person has to bear is their children's demise. The grief will intensify if they are killed from the negligence of the "untouchables" whose power is so much that they are beyond their reach. But as people say "Love" is the biggest strength this is the parents love towards their children that keeps them alive, their fight alive. The worst thing is the story is truth.

The performance of Abhaya Deol and OMG..RajShri Deshpande (never saw her before but you can feel her anguish, she matches every beat ,every step of the mother, Her body language will give you the chill) in the month of January we may have watched the best series of 2023.