CAST: Kajol, Jishu Sengupta, Sheeba Chadha, Alyy Khan, Kubra Sait, Aamir Ali, Gaurav Pandey, Bina, Kiran Kumar
DIRECTOR: Suparn Verma
This series arrived in the USA on Hulu a whole seven days later than its date of release in India.
If you have been a fan of Michelle and Robert King’s “The Good Wife” featuring Julianna Margulies as Alicia Florrick, the disgraced wife of a state attorney, the Indian adaptation seems like a bubblegum version of the OG.
Alicia’s husband Peter is arrested for a sex scandal (inspired by the Eliot Spitzer and John Edwards scandals ) and the distressed mother of two finds help when she gets hired at the law firm Stern, Lockhart & Gardner thanks to the support of her old law school friend Will Gardner, (for whom she has feelings).
Diehard fans of this series drank copious amounts of alcohol going through the twists and trials in Alicia’s life and her growing friendship and rivalry with Diane Lockhart ( Christine Baranski), who was later cast in the sequel to the series in The Good Fight ( Which is one of the best-written series ever).
Kajol’s “The Trial” is annotated as Pyaar ( love ?), Kanoon ( law !!).Dhoka ( deceit) ( whaaat!!) is adapted differently. Firstly, the original series was Seven Seasons with 22-23 episodes each of 40-45 minutes which gave it a lot of leverage in developing its characters and circumstances. With its 8 episodes for a seemingly first season, the show does not take time to set the story or its characters which feels like a disconnect to start the feels with.
The original show spent time building the trauma of Alicia Florrick. In contrast, The Trial moved from the slap to clap in a second. Kajol’s Noyonika shows no shock or grief before setting herself up. There is no process for her to enter the workforce and start to represent clients ( like in the original). There is no on-ramp to the simmering attraction between Alyy Khan’s Vishal and Noyonika.
Malini who stands in for the spectacular Diane Lockhart; the firm’s top litigator and the other partner, played by Sheeba Chaddha brings gravitas to the role but where the original character has brilliant lawyering and smart feminism, Malini is a weak adaptation of a character which inspired a follow on series in her own right.
Alyy Khan comes across lawyerish but they discuss no cases that seem challenging where the audience would be evoked to conclude that he is also smart while being good-looking.
Jisshu Sengupta’s Rajeev is Peter Florrick isn’t as charming as Chris North and seems to be given a very cookie-cut role of a power-hungry career focussed husband without any layering being attempted.
Kubra Sait plays Archie Punjabi’s Kalinda Sharma as Sana Shaikh, the in-house investigator with layers. We actually enjoyed her layers even though in the original series Kalinda lets Alicia know about her sexual encounter with her husband – in this adaptation that is dropped completely.
Noyonika has two daughters who actually watch their father’s sex photos without any reaction other than disbelief which is kind of unsettling. The original Alicia had a son and a daughter.
Gaurav Pandey’s Dheeraj is Cary Agos, a young Harvard-educated lawyer who is a first-year associate set up to compete against Noyonika for a permanent position at the firm. At the end of the season, he joins the Prosecutor’s office focused on bringing Rajeev down.
Eli Gold’s character is played by Aseem Hattangady. While in the original role, this character had the kingmaker charm and finesse; there seems to be an underplayed aspect in the portrayal here.
It is not possible for American fans of The Good Wife to watch any adaptation of the series without comparing it to the original super duper series that kept our wine cellars stocked from 2010- 2016 and then from 2017- 2022 for the exemplary story of Diane Lockhart in The Good Fight.
There seems to be a cliff for the second season. Can we do a deep dive in this season now, please?
