The Trial’s second season has brought several reunions for Sheeba Chadha, including with former collaborator Umesh Bist, who took over the directing duties for this instalment of the JioHotstar show. The two had previously worked together on the Sanya Malhotra-starrer Pagglait (2021), a world drastically different from that of the legal drama. But what remained constant, Chadha says, was Bist’s sensitive approach.

“I had a very good working experience with him in Pagglait. What is amazing is that the zone of The Trial is diametrically opposite from that of Pagglait. But he brings sensitivity and gentleness to the show. I think there’s enough fire and spice in the script. But the landing of it with a gentle hand, an eye that sees a little bit more than what’s on the page, and then to encourage the actors to look at it and to bring that into play, that’s what Umesh always brings to anything he does. It’s his eye for emotional detail. He will always make the script flower more,” the actor shares.