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Trial by Fire

Trial by Fire

TV-MA

Netflix

An intimate rendition of a real-life tragedy, and the transformative civil compensation case that followed

7.3

TV Show

India
Hindi
Crime, Drama
2023
AVANI DESHPANDE, PRASHANT NAIR
Abhay Deol, Anupam Kher, Ashish Vidhyarthi
45 min

TLDR

Rajshri Deshpande is phenomenal.

What it's about

After the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire, Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, seek justice for the loss of their children, no matter how long it takes.

The take

Tragedy can strike at any time, but some instances are preventable, and rare is the instance where people do seek justice for it. After all, after losing so much, it would be awful to fight and lose again. But these instances do still exist, and one such incident is the Uphaar cinema fire. Trial by Fire depicts this tragedy, but rather than focusing on the fire itself, it focuses on the fight the victims’ families took in order to seek justice. The show doesn’t play out as a courtroom drama, it takes an intimate look into their day-to-day actions, faithfully portrayed by the excellent Rajshri Deshpande and Abhay Deol. And while the industrial giants depicted tried to file an injunction against this show’s screening, thankfully, Trial by Fire is still able to make its stand. It’s solemn and grim, but it’s a potent reminder of the power we hold as a collective.

What stands out

It can be hard to depict real life tragedies because it’s tough to give justice in portraying the unimaginable. A depiction of a disaster can falter in accuracy, or worse, can go into overdone melodrama profiting from the pain of other people. Trial by Fire’s tragedy is the Uphaar cinema fire, which is one of the worst tragedies in recent Indian history. However, the series is less focused on depicting the disaster, and instead more focused on the loved ones that sought justice after the event. The tragedy is a terrible loss, but instead of portraying the cinema in flames, the show instead mainly shows the family, how they were before the fire and the way they tried to deal with their grief. And, being based on the book written by two of the real life people that filed the lawsuit, the pain depicted in the series feels real and urgent because of its restraint. It makes it all the more stirring as a result.

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