Review: Kajol ably steers ‘The Trial’ with powerful performance

‘The Trial’ has the makings of a good show, how well it manages to hold the top spot in following seasons will depend on its writers

Hyderabad: To make a courtroom drama interesting isn’t easy; there is a lot of legal jargon to cut through before you get to the meat of the matter.

‘The Trial’ manages that somewhat. The original mothership ‘The Good Wife’ led by Julianna Margulies was a great show with stellar performances from Christine Baranski, Josh Charles and Archie Punjabi; which is why it ran for seven seasons.

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In ‘The Trial’, Kajol has some pretty big shoes to fill and she adapts quickly. She plays Noyonika Sengupta who is suddenly pushed into a media frenzy, thanks to her husband’s shenanigans in the bedroom with prostitutes. Her husband (Jisshu Sengupta) is a judge accused of accepting sexual favours as bribes. With their assets frozen, Noyonika faces a trial of her own both professionally and personally when she becomes the sole breadwinner.

The former top lawyer, once paid by the hour, now struggles to get a job as no law firm wants to touch her with a ten-foot barge pole. Help comes from a former flame Vishal (Alyy Khan, ageing like fine wine) who works at the law firm AKC and associates and offers her a job.

Noyonika doesn’t get a welcome wagon from her co-workers or the firm’s other partner Malini Khanna (ever dependable Sheeba Chaddha) who feels Noyonika is a nepotism product. But she manages to come through on her first day with a courtroom win, helped by the firm’s fixer Sana (Kubbra Sait).

The pilot episode does a good job introducing the story which is a dense one; there is a lot going on in every sequence. What worked for ‘The Good Wife’ were its focus on the office dynamics and its effect on Alicia Florrick’s personal life. In ‘The Trial’, the writers do an okayish job adapting it to an Indian context; however, it still falls short of expectations.

Suparn Verma should have thought about that background score which is too overpowering in some of the courtroom scenes and distracts from the intensity of the moment.

Kajol is a powerhouse performer and those expressive eyes are really her calling card. She makes the character her own and makes you root for her. Interestingly, she also takes a bold step with ‘The Trial’ by doing a kissing scene on-screen for the first time. It also helps that she has good chemistry with Alyy Khan.

‘The Trial’ has the makings of a good show, how well it manages to hold the top spot in following seasons will depend on its writers.