Ravi Kishan is impressive in ‘Maamla Legal Hai’.
Film: Maamla Legal Hai
Director: Rahul Pandey
Cast: Ravi Kishan, Naila Grewal, Yashpal Sharma, Rama Sharma, Nidhi Bisht, Vijay Rajoria, Anjum Batra, Anant Joshi and Ajay Raju
Sheetal
A humorous take on legal procedures in India, this is a series you never thought you needed. The quirky drama has its weak moments but the impeccable dialogue writing and a talented ensemble cast hold it together.
The series opens with Vijay Raaz’s narration and hooks you for an entertaining ride right away. Raaz says, “Inke coat kaale hain magar dil kaala nahi hain,” and the following episodes set out on a task to explain that. From landing the first case to getting a desk in a foyer to finally having one’s own chamber in the court, the struggle of lawyers only increases after completing five years of degree course. Indeed, the dialogue lands well — a lawyer is always a student of law, learning and growing.
It definitely hits home for people who have opted for this career or have ever been victims of the slow legal procedures, where there is just ‘tareekh pe tareekh’.
Ravi Kishan, who had double releases this Friday (‘Laapata Ladies’ being the other), turns heads not just in the courtroom, but also with his overall performance. He has done thorough homework to essay the role of lawyer VD Tyagi and it would take time to forget this role of his. The women fare no less. Nidhi Bisht has got the best dialogues as a struggling lawyer parked in the foyer and knows how to deliver. Naila Grewal is a fresh face in the pool of known actors and she is impressive. Yashpal Sharma aces in his Haryanvi accent (understandably so); he provides tough competition to Tyagi in the Bar Council elections. Yes, you want to see more of him.
Kudos to the dialogue writer, who must have spent endless days in the courts to get the legal jargon right. Inspired as it is from true events, incidents like a fight between lawyers and cops ring a bell. The series also explains the sheer dependency of the judiciary and the police on each other to uphold the law.
They say truth is stranger than fiction. This holds true for this series as the unbelievable cases presented here don’t sound strange. It’s something you might have come across in newspaper headlines or in WhatsApp forwards.
The episodes have been kept short for a reason, and one doesn’t skip these after a few hours of binge watching. This legal comedy is not to be missed.
