Maamla Legal Hai Series Review: The gavel comes down light in this courtroom-comedy

There is a scene in an episode of Maamla Legal Hai, where two lawyers, Sujata Negi (Nidhi Bisht) and Ananya Shroff (Naila Grrewal) try to convince a jail warden to let them meet a female convict. However, there’s a catch. Sujata uses mosquitoes to leverage her way through and impress the warden. She notices the warden killing a mosquito with her hands and uses it to show her dominance in the conversation. As their bids to convince her to go down the drain, Sujata clears away a dead mosquito lying on the table and shows it to the warden. Somehow, the warden has a change of heart. Later, when they try to slip through yet another deal with her, the warden takes out a mosquito racket from her table drawer and the lawyers know it better not to indulge. Although lasting briefly, this scene contains a certain absurdity which syncs with the overall tone of the show. It adds a layer to the humour and makes it more interesting to watch. However, such inventiveness in comedy is restricted only to a couple of sequences in the eight-episode series which otherwise struggles to keep things funny.

Showrunner: Sameer Saxena

Director: Rahul Pandey

Starring: Ravi Kishan, Nidhi Bisht, Anant V Joshi, Naila Grewal, Anjum Batra, Vijay Rajoria, Yashpal Sharma, Tanvi Azmi

Based on some unusual real cases that have been filed in the courts of our country, Maamla Legal Hai is set in the district court of Patparganj involving a bunch of crazy lawyers. Each episode follows a new case as they scuffle their way across with a lot of jests. Writers Sourabh Khanna and Kunal Aneja keep things light and look at the world of Patparganj without judgment. For instance, there is a case of a female convict who wants to get married to her boyfriend and demands a room to spend their first night in jail. This is not used as a gateway to create jokes but is handled instead in a sensitive way. However, it is short-lived. Just moments later, Nidhi’s character makes a rather crude remark about the entire situation. In a later episode, she is again given dialogues where she deconstructs the meaning behind some profanities. Further, the desperation to create funny situations gives us a punchline about pronouns. What the writers intend to be funny ends up becoming uncomfortable.

This is followed with some punching-down humour. In one of the episodes, a farmer wants to save his land from being grabbed by the banks for he is unable to pay a loan. The writing makes the farmer the butt of jokes which makes it difficult to connect to him. Even though the gaze towards the downtrodden is not of pity, it seems the writers don’t know what point to make. In the end, it starts to feel that everything was done just for the gags. Coupled with other instances like these, the satire often backfires and creates an overall imbalance in the tone.

In the middle of all of this, what makes the series come together is the simplicity of its characters. All of them feel like they have been taken out of a Hindi novel, where the circumstances are heavy, but it is fought with the everyday sweetness of the people. We are told through a voice-over in the beginning that these lawyers have dark coats but bright hearts. When the show follows their journeys and delves into their ambitions, it becomes intriguing. Case in question: VD Tyagi (Ravi Kishan), the lawyer who wants to become the Attorney General and shares a difficult bond with his father who is a High Court judge. Ravi Kishan plays him effortlessly with the right amount of wit and vulnerability. His presence in the show lends it a certain flavour that doesn’t take centre stage but leaves a fragrant residue for you to cherish. Nidhi doesn’t fail to entice either with her impeccable dialogue delivery. It is through her husky voice and cheeky expressions that conflicts find a near-perfect resolution. Naila as the Harvard return lawyer keeps the excitement alive as she grapples her way through the unruly ways of Patparganj. She is intelligent and has the sections of law at her fingertips. Yet, through all of this, there is seldom any time to linger on their emotions as the show finds its appeal in the weirdness of the cases.

All these hiccups and havoc in the courtroom leave you smiling albeit with a growing sense of incompletion. What started on a promising note, derails in the later portions. This courtroom needed a mix of the heartfelt and the comic. There is some order and some chaos. However, when it’s time for poetic justice, there’s just adjournment.