In season two of the Netflix comedy series Maamla Legal Hai, change is in the air. The canny lawyer VD Tyagi (Ravi Kishan) is now a principal district judge at the fictitious Patparganj court, sworn to uphold the law rather than bend it. After the BC and AD eras, it’s the VD era, Tyagi brags. But life on the other side of the witness stand is not so pliable.
Tyagi is accused of bias simply because he bares his teeth too freely. He is loath to abandoning his glad-handing ways. Tyagi often seeks out the other newly appointed principal district judge, the seasoned and pragmatic Kailash (Dibyendu Bhattacharya).
Tyagi’s former employees, including Balli (Anjum Batra) and Sujata (Nidhi Bisht), are struggling to adapt too. Although they now have their own prized chamber, they spend most of their time squabbling with each other.
Pro bono queen Ananya (Naila Grrewal) continues to fight the good fight, representing a man wronged by his deodorant brand even after he confuses “sexist” for “sexiest”. Ananya has competition in the bleeding heart department from Nayana (Kusha Kapila). The women compete for the kind of absurd cases that burden Indian courts.
Taking off from actual litigation, Maamla Legal Hai looks at the lighter side of the legal system. The second season maintains its predecessor’s frivolity even as it tries to live up to the solemnity of Tyagi’s new position.
Creators Saurabh Khanna, Kunal Aneja and Sameer Saxena, director Rahul Pandey, and writers Aneja, Syed Shadan and Mohak Aneja up the ante somewhat. Sexual harassment, gay rights, the death penalty: Maamla Legal Hai attempts to acknowledge the serious aspects of litigation. But the show’s heart beats faster for tomfoolery, which is deftly portrayed by the ensemble cast.
The focus is less on Tyagi and more on the other characters. Various alumni from the previous season alongside a couple of new additions try to keep eight scattershot, frequently silly episodes on track.
It takes Tyagi to restore the balance. He isn’t always up to the task. Neither is the show.
Having already declared its preference for comedy, Maamla Legal Hai is wary of confronting the full horrors of just how powerful judges can be, how poorly stored evidence can ruin cases, how disinterested lawyers can betray litigants. In the moment when a character realises how grave the matter is, his response is to throw in the towel.
It’s just as well. Seriousness isn’t this show’s strong suit.
Also read:
‘Maamla Legal Hai’ review: Ravi Kishan is the show’s heart and funny bone
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