Netflix's 2023 release Trial by Fire ends on a poignant note, as it spent much of the final episode describing the horrors of what happened at the Uphaar cinema on June 13, 1997. In what will be remembered as a dark day in history from Delhi, 900 people entered the cinema to see J.P. Watch Nair's latest film, Border. However, due to the indifference and ignorance of the management, a fire broke out and 59 people died in the hall that day. Among those who died were the two sons of Shekhar and Neelam Krishnamoorthy: Ujjwal and Unnati. His death traumatized his parents so much that they founded an organization, the Association of Victims of the Uphaar Tragedy, whose aim was to bring those responsible in the case to justice. The main defendants were brothers Gopal and Sushil Ansal, well-known real estate tycoons who allegedly owned half of the state capital. The Krishnamoorthys spent several years trying to find justice, and in 2016 the court was due to make its decision. Here's what the court ruled and a deeper dive into what happened in the theater all those years ago.
spoilers ahead
A parody of justice
The final episode mostly consists of flashbacks to the day that changed the lives of several families. The seventh episode begins after the court acquits the Ansal brothers, the main defendants in the Uphaar cinema fire, and Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy are bombarded with questions from the media. Frustration and despair over the years has taken hold of Neelam, and she questions the legitimacy of a justice system that took nearly two decades to reach a decision that she believes is totally wrong. She mentions the alternative option she could have chosen instead of going the legal route: picking up a gun and shooting her children's killers the same night that Ujjwal and Unnati died.
A nightmare that ended in death
Returning to the day of the tragedy, we finally see the calm before the storm that would ruin so many lives. On the day of the Uphaar tragedy, we met Unnati and Ujjwal again, who were on their way to the cinema. A man who works in a carpet shop next to Uphaar parks his bicycle and enters the shop as the young Krishnamoorthys get off a rickshaw in front of the cinema. Mrs. Goswami leaves her elderly parents in front of the theater and after arguing with the couple, she leaves. Kishan Pal's seven family members go to the theater with enthusiasm. These families, all happy, came to see a movie they had been waiting for and had no idea of the tragedy that was about to unfold, in part because of one man.
The man in question, Mr. Arora, the theater director, greets a couple of Chinese businessmen who are friends of the Ansals. Ujjwal and Unnati are waiting for their friend Arjun when the anonymous employee who left her necklace at the monument in Episode 4 stumbles upon them. However, he shows no sign of remorse and walks away when Arora calls out to him, asking him to get the Chinese ambassadors into the box. In the bath where Ujjwal washes, another character is introduced who looks anxiously at his own reflection. Outside, he finds another man waiting with two bags of popcorn, the former complaining that his father will never understand him. Meanwhile, Hardeep Singh Bedia and his wife who we met in episode 5 arrive at the cinema and Hardeep complains that they should have taken the boxes. As the room begins to fill, we catch glimpses of the two men discussing family matters and holding hands, Ujjwal and Unnati munching on popcorn, and Kishan Pal's family gathered together at the beginning of the film, which goes into the same series as the Bedis. .
Upon leaving, Arora makes it clear that no one is allowed in without a ticket, so a doorman seals the fate of moviegoers by locking the door from the outside. The transformer in the underground parking lot breaks down and the lights start flickering. As Arora smokes outside, Arjun arrives and goes to the ticket office, takes his ticket and tries to enter the hall only to find that it is locked from the outside. The fire starts at the transformer and quickly spreads throughout the parking lot. The projector operator asks Arora to have a look, which he reluctantly follows, only to find chaos as there isn't a single fire extinguisher and panic immediately spreads. Mrs. Bedi is the first to spot the smoke, but Hardeep silences her. An employee runs up to Arora to tell him to call the police, who yell and fire him. When he's not contacting emergency services, he does the best he can: not sending fire trucks or keeping spectators safe, but emptying ticket sales to hand over to bosses.
Inside, people start coughing as the smoke rises, and at the first sign of trouble, the Chinese businessmen are brought out by the staff. The projector operator understands the situation and tries to calm people down by telling them to go to the exit, but luckily the speaker system is down. People start to run and two queues form, one towards the exit next to the cashier, while the others move towards the main exit. As a stampede breaks out, people bang on the locked door, and Arora emerges to find family, friends, and family gathered outside. The room caught fire when Ujjwal and Unnati tried to leave, but the anonymous employee who had snuck in to see the film fled, pushing the brothers on his way up the stairs. During the fight, Unnati's necklace gets stuck in her watch. People cannot escape through the stairs because there is a fire downstairs, everyone is coughing, breathing heavily and some have already died. One of them is probably Kishan Pal's son, as his wife begs him to wake up. The employee runs away when the woman grabs his leg and asks for his help. Trying to break free, she kicks the baby in her arms and the 6-month-old baby falls to her death. A pathetic person in the truest sense of the word. Some people caught fire and screamed in pain. Hardeep and his wife cautiously leave when Hardeep finds a young man and decides to help him. Another person looking for someone named Ruhi breaks through and pushes Hardeep, who trips and falls into the fire. Mrs. Bedi collapses in shock when the official who murdered a baby limped into a clearing. Several people are banging on a locked door while many are out of breath when Chirag, one of the two boys from earlier, discovers a crack in the wall that can be used to escape and calls out to his partner Amit. Others had the same idea, and people watch helplessly as someone hangs from the crevices but leans on a ledge below. Chirag also exits through the same crevasse, which Amit promises to follow, but the cloth used to lower him begins to slip, leaving Chirag dangling in the air.
rescue is coming
The rug salesman rushes in with rugs to cushion the falls of people jumping from the aisle. The cloth slips and Chirag lands on the ledge, but the person there is knocked off as he falls to his death. Amit is pushed into the crowd while Chirag is helped by carpet shop workers, while many people are trapped to one side of the door with burning fires, begging to be let out. Some people open the door and the clerk is one of those who manages to get through to the other side. There's a sink on this side, he washes his face and drinks some water while those on the other side cry, knock on the door trying to survive. Mrs. Bedi is helped by the boy Hardeep was trying to help, but a shard of glass pierces her foot and she passes out as the pain of losing her husband hits her. The fire trucks have finally arrived and the firefighters run upstairs as Chirag runs up to the lead firefighter and begs him for help but is pushed away. Firefighters begin pulling people out, most unconscious, some already dead, with people on their last legs, water hoses start spraying water out the windows, and Mrs. Bedi and the boy who saved her are taken away by the rescued firefighters, who break the windows and force their way in. Amit is carried outside and a firefighter tries to revive him as Chirag pushes his way through the crowd. He quickly realizes that Amit has drowned and cries while holding his hand when Sohan, the father Amit was unhappy with, arrives. The piercing screams of a father trying to wake his dead son while begging for a doctor or someone to help him is one of the episode's most heartbreaking moments. Mrs. Bedi is sitting outside and is surprised when a woman takes away Suhrab, the boy who helped her. The anonymous employee is rescued and stumbles, and he walks through the crowd looking utterly shocked. He arora walks through the sea of people, relatives, relatives and friends. Does he realize he's the cause of all the wailing around him?
The achievements of a tired couple and a group
Shekhar wakes up to find his wife awake and busy with case work; He brushes his teeth and makes coffee while Neelam asks for his help. Later, on her way to court, she is greeted by several people, including police and lawyers. After more than two decades in and out of the courtroom, Neelam is almost as recognizable a face as a judge. Shekhar discusses his mission accomplishments with A.V.U.T. members and informed them that all schools in Delhi are now required to follow the mandatory rule to install at least one fire extinguisher on every floor. Several new faces can be seen - the club is now much bigger. Sohan meets Neelam in court and helps her. A man who was skeptical about joining the club in 1997 became an active participant in the court proceedings, only when Amit was able to see this version of his father. They reach the courthouse and the judge congratulates Neelam on his school security move. Amrita Singh, Neelam's lawyer, starts the case of falsification of evidence and the fateful day of the fire begins when Neelam looks into the camera before the screen fades to black. Two title cards announce that the Ansal brothers were sentenced to prison for fabricating evidence nearly 25 years after the tragedy, but were released six months later.
'Trials by Fire' Booklet 7: The End
The final episode of Netflix's Trial by Fire might seem pretty disturbing to some viewers, and that's totally fair. It perfectly captured the situations where people would consider jumping off a two-story building instead of burning to death. We never saw Ujjwal and Unnati again after that, and it is believed that they suffocated to death, but their parents formed a partnership that led to a historic decision on matters of public safety as they tried to bring their children's killers to justice. However, justice seemed to elude those who died in hellish circumstances in the fire and those who survived the fire but lost loved ones in it. The survivors, like Chirag or Mrs. Bedi, will never be able to forget the nightmare they lived through and how the people they loved couldn't escape. The series strives to show the farce of justice that took place here as the rich and powerful once again escaped the clutches of the law. Neelam's long look at the camera could be a look at the justice system that has failed to ensure that the main defendants remain behind bars, regardless of their age or power. After six months in prison, the Ansals were released, showing just how broken the justice system can be. But on a positive note, A.V.U.T has achieved things they only dreamed of, and if these changes can prevent another Uphaar tragedy and save lives, it might be the best gift parents like Shekhar and Neelam could receive.
- Propaganda -