Trial by Fire

A couple, coping with the loss of their children. The mother Neelam (a stupendous Rajshri Deshpande) cuts her hair short, the father Shekhar (a magnificent Abhay Deol) cries on the washbasin. They embrace in bed, under the yellow glow of the night bulb, hoping to ward off the nightmares. There are others like them too. A poor, old man, who can’t pay for the last rites of his family, including an infant, which died in the fire. Another couple, a 1965 war veteran Hardeep Bedi (an aptly cast Anupam Kher) and his wife (Ratna Pathak Shah), who went to see the film, as a way to make up after a fight. A security guard, Umesh (Shardul Bhardwaj), sneaked in more people to the theatre, to make some cash on the side, and now has to live with the guilt.

While the show does suffer in pacing towards the end, sometimes spending too long on an arc, Trial By Fire is one of the best examples of telling such a story.

The show also captures the poignancy of small moments – Neelam suddenly noticing that her kids’ toothbrushes are still by the basin in the bathroom; a birthday cake being shoved into the arms of Shekhar; the stoic-looking Neelam exploding because she heard Shekhar humming.