Verdict is out, ‘maamla’ enjoyable hai

Courts, we presume, are dreary places of extreme decorum and discipline. Yet they can provide much fodder for merriment, as has been shown in umpteen films and most delectably in the Ravi Kishan-starrer web series ‘Maamla Legal Hai’. As it rolls on to the second season, the idea is still the same: to reflect upon thorny legal battles — actually, social issues — with humour.

If you believe first time is the real charm, to begin with, the second outing of ‘Maamla Legal Hai’ may not seem as much fun. But soon enough, it finds its feet, just as the main protagonist Visheshwar D Tyagi (Ravi Kishan) does in his newly elevated position of Principle Judge of Patparganj district court.

While the first episode, where he makes a faux pas during his oath-taking ceremony, may not have brought the house down, the writing (led by Kunal Aneja, Syed Shadan, Mohak Aneja and Tatsat Pandey) still has the same spark and thoughtful detailing. ‘Judgitis’, ‘one man’s cruelty is another man’s love’, ‘give confidence to a scared client and vice versa’; clearly, the dialogues do not come out of vacuum. Best is when the administrative manager of the court, Vishwas Pandey (Anant V Joshi), asks the policeman in search of a scamster on the court premises if he has any strategy in place. The flat tone answer — “ummeed” — evokes more than a chuckle. Hope, in fact, runs as a recurring leitmotif even when the new judge, Tyagi, employs a trick or two to get the better of his colleague, Judge Ghosh, who anyway suffers from a pompous sense of holier than thou.

Judges and their conduct are constantly under scanner, so much so that even a smile can be construed as favouritism. This aspect is one among many that director Rahul Pandey and his team of writers shine a light upon.

While the first season belonged mostly to Ravi Kishan who now, in keeping with his new position, has to turn a tad somber, this season is a level-playing field for all its key players. Characters like Mintu (Anjum Batra) and Sujata (Nidhi Bisht) turn more emotional than amusing. A couple of love stories are tied amidst serious concerns. Adulteration, matrimonial acrimony, homosexuality and finally the life and death issue of capital punishment are dealt with in different episodes with a fair degree of felicity.

The episodes come laced with a tongue-in-cheek veneer; the mediation between a mama’s boy and his rather independent wife is truly funny and heartening. Equally hilarious is the one dealing with gender-neutral sexual harassment. As one of the lawyers’ own tribe is a victim of an elderly lady’s advances, the goings-on in the police station are lighthearted, yet make a point or two.

Love is brewing, too — between Sujata and Mintu and Naila Grrewal’s Ananya and Anant’s Vishwas as well. Anant comes out trumps in the acting department with classic one-word, one-line flourishes. As do Nidhi and Anjum, who are natural even in the most chaotic situations.

Naila grows on you. Among the new entrants, Dibyendu Bhattacharya is a consummate actor; his character is laced with a surprising twist. Kusha Kapila’s meanie act as Ananya’s adversary is not tailored out of a new cloth and exists primarily to make the Harvard-educated Ananya win her first case. Playing with words like sexism, understood as sexiest by Ananya’s client, victim of a contaminated deodorant, is not outright comic, but does bring a smile.

Certainly, not all episodes are on even keel, some more rib-tickling than the others. And the final episode, which brings forth the conundrum of judges when it comes to handing over the death sentence, especially when it’s a young man of 24, truly gives you goosebumps. Many one-liners in this episode are a revelation, especially those delivered by the jailer, who drives home how even the most hardened criminals will have a humane aspect. While dealing with such judgments, Visheshwar Tyagi’s father (the ever dependable Rajendra Gupta) talks of the weight of a pen, no less than a weapon.

To package wisdom and social commentary in a show with a quintessential delightful flavour remains the franchise’s biggest triumph. The manner in which two different plot points, often one recurring and the other a new case, intercut, it ensures that the series does not fall into the trap of ennui.

Thanks to this editorial device and creator Sameer Saxena’s grip on its core premise, Patparganj district court is never short of drama. That goes for the series too, which, as the newspaper clippings in the end credits remind, is a fictionalised account of some real cases. Here, when real meets reel, the net result is comedy not just for comedy’s sake but something far more meaningful.

Watching it in one go or even episode by episode will not take away its entertainment value. Whichever way, maamla enjoyable hai.