The Indian adaptation of The Good Wife, titled The Trial- Pyaar Kaanoon Dhokha, leaves enough evidences of narrative loopholes and palpable lack of commitment to the subject matter for a definitive charge of guilt. Helmed by Suparn Verma, it begins with Kajol‘s Noyonika Sengupta, who has to face unwanted media attention and try to rebuild her life from scratch as her husband Rajeev (Jisshu Sengupta) gets imprisoned for a sex scandal. Don’t ask for reasons because the show, is more interested in showing unnecessary skin-show rather than instilling some sort of context in the narrative that is about to stretch for eight long episodes. (Also read: The Trial Twitter reviews are not good; fans unimpressed with Kajol’s OTT debut: ‘Cheap copy of The Good Wife’)
The premise
Yet, it all seems like a walk in the park for Noyonika; who after shedding a tear or two with her two daughters about the future, conveniently struts her way to a top firm (never mind she is twenty minutes late) and becomes the junior lawyer. Her first call and lo! She’s fighting for her client in the court where even the judge knows her because of her husband’s deeds. The six months-long probation seems like a joke because she’s nowhere near any kind of struggle. Within the first episode itself, she has shifted to a new toned-down apartment, now staying with her regressive mother-in-law and daughters, and fighting a high profile case. According to The Trial (written by Hussain Dalal, Abbas Dalal, and Siddharth Kumar), selling off a Mercedes and living in a fully furnished apartment (which is labelled as small more than once) is counted as struggle. No wonder, I am still the only one searching for nuance in some aesthetic of the show here.
The characters of the show
The format is predictable. Noyonika climbs the ladder to fight a new case in each new episode. But Noyonika is no Annalise Keating of How To Get Away From Murder. She is always prim and proper–her hair blow-dried and curled just fine–and her suited pastel outfits- never not ironed. The world around her also feels drawn and adjusted to suit her better. Most of the time, she’s either assisted by her colleagues- which to no degree of surprise, include a past college fling in the form of Vishal (Ally Khan), a go-getter associate in the form of Sana (Kubbra Sait), and a perenially perky co-chair Malini (Sheeba Chaddha). If these paper-thin supporting characters were not enough, there’s also a distant Kabir Singh fan in the form of a cop played by Aamir Ali, and the solo news anchor who revels in creating controversy, named Daksh (Atul Kumar).
Poor dialogues
Six episodes into The Trial, and sure enough the closing credits are announced with the arrival of yet another piece of mind-numbing dialogue by Noyonika. “Iss duniya mein do tarah ke pyaar hote hein. Ek jo hum deserve karte hein…doosra jo hum desire karte hein. Aur iss sab ke upar hoti he destiny, jisse koi nahi jeet sakta (There are two types of love in this world. One that we deserve and the other that we desire. But above all, there’s destiny which cannot be won).” But this particular moment is preceeded by a conversation where an old associate makes a perverted comment on not getting turned on by a female law firm employee. Who is Noyonika speaking to here? Is it her internal monologue? It’s all a confused, pretentious mess. None of the performances land, even the always-reliable Sheeba Chaddha meets the fate of a poorly written boss-lady archetype.
Loud and superficial
Not even Kajol can save The Trial from its own understanding of law and justice. Her performance is loud and tonally off at many places- her natural effervescence not helping her cause at all. The format of the narrative is supposed to be positioned in a manner where each new case reveals some kind of socio-economic crisis, prejudice or dilemma- and underline it back to how it all reflects in Noyonika’s personal life. In The Trial, these two worlds feel increasingly remote and artificial. Noyonika’s personal life barges into the narrative like a never-ending television soap opera playing in full-blown background music. And the less said about the atrocious use of background music, the better. Rarely a moment of silence in the runtime of eight episodes.
Perhaps the most annoying and creepy part of this entire series is saved for the last. More than once, the audience is shown how Noyonika’s daughters are more interested in watching the sex tape of their father. Out of all people, these girls find out the truth about the photos. The focus is rarely on the investigation of that part and more on the skin-show. Suparn seems to have given no thought on how to position and execute these scenes- it feels grossly inappropriate and reveals a shocking lack of perspective on the treatment of the subject matter. The Trial is outrageously loud, forgettable and disappointing, far removed from a much-needed framework of perception: law-wise, justice-wise, or any otherwise.
The Trial- Pyaar Kaanoon Dhokha is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.