Once upon a time, Kajol was a quality guarantee. Like Aamir Khan, if Kajol captained a ship, it could never sink.
No more so. Jio Hotstar’s second season of the courtroom drama (which is more about the drama outside the courtroom) finds Kajol struggling with several domestic and professional hardships. This was much the same in the first season. The second season is more laden with activity, some of it more interesting than what we saw earlier, but still not resourceful enough to be considered a winner.
There is a directorial change in the series—while Suparn Verma directed the first season, Umesh Bisht directs the second—but no significant shift in the tone or intent of the narration. The idea is to channelise the Bengali lawyer Nayonika Sengupta’s inner professional and personal worlds into a cohesive universe. This fusion, unfortunately, never fructifies in the series. There are too many strands in the plot, with characters attempting breathlessly to run across the narrative without tripping on the wires.
This time, Noyonika gets justice for a woman who is constantly being sexually harassed. This first episode seemed a little too facile and solvable. Women harassed in workplaces have to fight for years to prove their allegations. I guess they don’t have a Noyonika in their lives.
In another subplot, an influencer gets into a messy lawsuit with a jealous rival. The in-court “settlement” at the end of this episode is laughable. But then we really don’t expect our courtroom dramas to be authentic, do we, unless it is Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court.
Season 2 of The Trial has some interesting politicking in the law firm where Noyonika works. But the lack of concentration in the storytelling gets in the way. As if the series is not burdened enough with issues, we also have an LGBTQ angle with Noyonika’s brother coming out of the closet.
Wish he had stayed in there until the clutter was cleared.
