The Trial (Indian TV series)

The Trial: Pyaar Kaanoon Dhokha is a 2023 Indian legal drama television series streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. An adaptation of Robert King and Michelle King's The Good Wife, it is directed by Suparn Verma and features Kajol in the lead role. The series is centered on a housewife who, after 10 years, stars working at a law firm to support her family when her husband gets imprisoned.

The series was announced in July 2022 with principal photography commencing the following month. It was released on Disney+ Hotstar on 14 July 2023.

Premise
Noyonika Sengupta, a law school graduate, is a housewife who gave up her career to look after her children. When her husband, Rajeev Sengupta, an additional judge is arrested for a sex and corruption scandal, she starts working as a junior lawyer at a law firm to support her family. Noyonika now has to balance both her work and family life while also having to deal with the humiliation she faces from her husband's scandal.

Main

 * Kajol as Noyonika Sengupta
 * Jisshu Sengupta as Rajiv Sengupta: Noyonika's husband
 * Alyy Khan as Vishal Chaubey
 * Sheeba Chaddha as Malini Khanna: A name partner at the firm.
 * Kubbra Sait as Sana Shaikh: A consultant at the firm.
 * Gaurav Pandey as Dheeraj Paswan
 * Shruti Bisht as Ananya Sengupta: Noyonika and Rajeev's older daughter.
 * Suhani Juneja as Anaira Sengupta: Noyonika and Rajeev's younger daughter.

Recurring

 * Beena Banerjee as Seema Sengupta: Rajiv's mother.
 * Aseem Hattangadi as Illyas Khan: Family friend of the Senguptas.
 * Aamir Ali as Pradeep Shinde: Police officer and Sana's love interest.
 * Atul Kumar as Daksh Rathod: TV news reporter
 * Manasvi Mamgai as Juhi Bhatia
 * Rituraj Singh as Sharad Jhadav
 * Kiran Kumar as Kishore Ahuja: A name partner at the firm.
 * Aditi Singh as Tina / Latika Kalra
 * Shyam Kishore as Bharat Mishra: Rajiv's lawyer.

Episodic

 * Arjun Kachroo as Rajat Kakkar
 * Suchitra Pillai as Shivani Bahl
 * Vijay Vikram Singh as Takesh
 * Flora Saini as Anisha Menon
 * Swayam Joshi
 * Haelyn Shastri
 * Sheena Chohan as Jasmin Lobo
 * Nirbhay Jain
 * Nancy Gill as Kavya Bola
 * Aparna Menon as Rose Mathews

Development
A collaboration between Disney+ Hotstar and Kajol was announced in July 2022 with a teaser video revealing an untitled series. In August, the first schedule of the shooting commenced at Juhu Studios in Mumbai where a set was built depicting an office setting. On 8 September 2022, the first look was released, announcing the title as well as the show being an adaptation of the American series of the same name. The motion poster was released on 9 June 2023 and the trailer on 12 June announcing the release date 14 July 2023.

Release
All episodes of The Trial released on Disney+ Hotstar on 14 July 2023.

Critical reception
The show has received mostly mixed reviews from critics.

Anuj Kumar of The Hindu opined "The makers have looked beyond the obvious faces that dot the OTT space these days and have brought back some lesser-seen powerhouses."

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express opined "For the second season, can we expect smoother writing, less choppy situations, and please, none of those sonorous voice-overs which feel like they were written as bumper-sticker lines to the wise?"

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV rated the series 3 stars out of 5 and gave mixed review "Not everything in this world is by the book. One of the key characters in The Trial avers that a lawyer's job is to defend a client, not the truth."

Critic Deepa Gahlot reviewed the series for Scroll.in stating "Kajol is given annoying internal pop-philosophical monologues about love, trust, destiny and faith."

Santanu Das of Hindustan Times felt dialogues are poor and wrote "None of the performances land, even the always-reliable Sheeba Chaddha meets the fate of a poorly written boss-lady archetype."

Tushar Joshi of India Today wrote "On the flip side, the score and music sounds outdated and some of the dialogues stand out as a sore thumb in an otherwise modern setting. There is a lack of cohesiveness between the episodes and you need to be patient to make it to the point where the actual fun starts."

A critic from Rediff.com wrote "Blame it on my expectations, but we've seen far more absorbing and closer-to-life court room dramas in recent times -- the slow burn Criminal Justice, spirited Guilty Minds and, of course, the glitzy Suits being one of my all-time favourites."

Pinkvilla gave a mixed review "The Trial counts for a nice weekend binge despite few clichéd tropes and plot conveniences."