Trial Travails:
The first season of The Trial, the adaptation of American web series, The Good Wife, had packed in a lot of drama. Noyonika (Kajol) found her life disrupted when her husband Rajiv (Jisshu Sengupta) was arrested in a sex scandal. She had to dust off her office wear and join as a junior lawyer at the firm run by her college boyfriend Vishal (Alyy Khan) and his sharp partner Malini (Sheeba Chaddha). It had ended with her exonerated husband announcing his entry into politics.
In the second season, Noyonika is still at the same firm, which has a new partner Param (Karanvir Sharma), an arrogant and unscrupulous man, who thinks she gets “too emotionally attached” to her clients, and does not make enough money for the company. At home, there is a kind of uneasy truce between her and Rajiv, for the sake of the two young daughters, but the fights are also loud and vicious.
Along with Noyonika’s personal and professional problems, the show– directed by Umesh Bist this time, written by Amit Raj and Khushboo Raj—depicts the cases she handles; even keeping in mind that the Indian legal system and very different from the American, the courtroom scenes are quite tepid. The very first case is bizarre, when a masseuse, Twinkle (Aiman Sheikh) walks into their office, drags Noyonika out of a lawyers’ conclave, to accuse a well-known philanthropist (who remains offscreen) of rape. For one who is so powerless, that the cops do not even file an FIR, she tells Noyonika that either they take up her case, or she will go to their rival firm after a couple of hours. And all the partners and investigator, Sana (Kubbra Sait), get to work, to try to prevent Twinkle from walking out. The firm is not seen as a not-for-profit entity, and hardly likely to pull off all stops for a non-paying client. The show is unable to shake off the lapse in credulity that starts from here. The cases are all either cliched – a greedy builder, a corrupt system—or just bizarre, like two influencers battling it out in court. At least this one has some humour as the judge (Ramakant Dayama) is baffled and irritated by the Gen Z lingo. Noyonika’s opponent is public prosecutor Dheeraj (Gaurav Pandey), who had, in the last season, resented her “nepo hire,” and exited the firm. The role he plays is that of the District Attorney in the US, but then in matters legal and political the viewer is expected to suspend disbelief.
The slightly more interesting developments are happening outside the courtroom. Rajiv’s political ambition irks the current law minister, Narayani (Sonali Kulkarni), who matches the underhand tricks thought up by Rajiv’s aide Ilyaas (Aseem Hattangadi), with her own. She brings out the issues of Indian culture and outsiders, getting her men to attack Noyonika’s gay brother Shumon (Santanu Ghatak).
A confrontation between Noyonika and Narayani is inevitable. The lawyer, usually seen in Indian attire or Western style suits, digs out a black belted scene for this, and utters the mandatory Ma line to the presumably childless Narayani. Since the city’s media is supposedly waiting with bated breath to know if she has forgiven Rajiv, she gives the ‘kintsugi’ (cracks repaired with gold) response to explain how her marriage is stronger, only to get another slap of betrayal soon.
The star of the show is Kajol, but she seems to remain in the sidelines in the drama involving the partners in the firm—Malini feels sidelined by the “Boy’s Club” of Vishal and Param, and Ketanbhai (Kenneth Desai), the star divorce lawyer and Malini’s ear to the ground, is disgruntled by Param’s high-handedness. Vishal, still mooning Noyonika, nevertheless has his erratic romantic track with PR professional Chitrangada (Pamela Bhutoria), whose main role in his life is washing his socks! Even Sana gets a big problem in the form of Param’s investigator Sunny (Kunal Thakur) who knows about her past.
Despite Kajol’s efforts—and she really sparks to life when fiery is required—the show does not quite manage to blend well the thrill of a hard fought court battle, the intrigue of politics or the heart break of thwarted love. Sonali Kulkarni and oldtimer Asrani, as a wily Parsi lawyer, are scene stealers. The Good Wife ran for seven seasons and then had a spin off, The Good Fight, so The Trial has a long way to go. There is definitely a third season on the way, if the end of this one is any indication. Maybe the next time round, there will be some more spice added to the mix.
(This piece first appeared in scroll.in)
