“A show dealing with events ripped from the headlines” gives a fictional narrative an added amount of weight, as well as a veneer of authenticity mixed with sensationalism. What can attract you to “Mamla Legal Hai (Season 1)” is its premise itself. It might be based on real events and real cases of Sessions Courts, but the cases range from the frivolous to the mundane to the baffling and also the important and socially striking. Of course, considering it was created by the team at Posham Pa (the creators of last year’s Netflix series “Kaala Paani”), at least one can expect nuance.
There is potential in the premise, especially considering the different strata of characters “Mamla Legal Hai” chooses to play with in its sandbox. There’s VD Tyagi, the president of the Patparganj Bar Association, a wheeler-dealer and ambitious lawyer who would leave no stone unturned to climb the ladder up to become District Attorney. For that, though, he would have to fulfill his entire character arc throughout the season—to win the election to become President of the Bar Association.
Rounding up his misfit attitudes is his core supporting cast, which includes a pair of interns hilariously nicknamed “Law” and “Order,” Mintu, who is Tyagi’s best friend and biggest hype man, whose legal prowess is ignored, and of course Munshi, the elderly statesman who is experienced, serene, and always ready with a story and advice for Tyagi should he be led astray by his gregariousness.
The overall cast of characters to follow also extends to Sujata Negi (Nidhi Bisht), an experienced dealer who specializes in sending clients to the “AC-room” lawyers in the hope of obtaining a commission, but her dream is to open a chamber for herself. We also have Ananya Shroff, a newbie 3rd generation lawyer, fresh out of Harvard. Her blue blood is filled with idealism and energy to earn experience as a lawyer from the ground up, as her grandfather had before her, and yet her entire character arc throughout the show is to attain a case of her own.
If one takes a look at how the creators and writers choose to frame “Mamla Legal Hai,” there is almost a stubborn insistence on not devolving into sensationalism. On the contrary, the mundanity, process-oriented, bureaucracy-tinged nature of law at the ground level feels like one of the primary factors of depiction. It extends to the real-life cases that are being tackled here, weaved into the narrative, though not always smoothly.
The familiar template of breaking down the idealist rose-tinted glasses of the rookie does not carry with it an aura of cynicism or meanness. On the contrary, “Mamla Legal Hai” does try to remain steadfastly neutral in its tonality when it comes to drama. It instead chooses to comment on the absurdity of the mundane cases, be it the lawyers striking against the infestation of monkeys at the office or, of course, the absurdity of some of the solutions.
But of course, if “Mamla Legal Hai” had plans to be a biting satire about the legal profession and the rigmarole and glamorization of its depiction before this show, it truly doesn’t register significantly. There is the customary “Suits” reference made by Vishwas, comparing himself to Donna, which even now feels so much a product of the moment because of the newfound popularity of “Suits” on Netflix that it also feels very dated. But somehow, the satirical element within the show feels both clever and remarkably blunt.
There are moments like a session court judge being completely starstruck and recording the professional moves of a famous rockstar advocate while the court is in the middle of a case, which feels hilarious precisely because we haven’t seen any event quite like this. There is a tongue-in-cheek nature to the solutions to the weird cases, like how insulting extended family members behind your back doesn’t make it a matter of contempt for the court quite as effectively as an insult to the face, or how defending a police officer against the entire fraternity of lawyers becomes an automatic pulpit for Tyagi to campaign for his election.
But the satire gets undercut because of the writers’ insistence on broadly comedic moments to overscore those satirical touches, but all it does is sprinkle needless “commercial” elements like heroic entry shots and blaring comedic background scores as motifs. It punctures the effectiveness of the satire, choosing so much on the exaggerated aspect of it that it forgets to regulate the humor. Thus, exposing the stupidity or vice in the context of contemporary politics or, unfortunately, relatable, untenable issues might be appropriate, but the delivery system to cater to a large section of the audience robs the show of its identity.
As a result, the muddling of the tonality also translates to the muddling of its narrative. When the show doubles down on its procedural roots, focusing on a single case and its resolution, writers Kunal Aneja and Saurabh Khanna excel. It’s in the overarching narrative and character arcs of the central protagonists that the show falters, especially towards the latter half of its season, where Tyagi’s machinations sometimes overwhelm and threaten to vault over the modest ambition the show had begun in the first place. It is fascinating, too, that Tyagi is one of the only characters afforded an actual emotional character arc with a backstory. The backstory is debatable whether it is interesting, though it does become a fascinating mirroring of the denouement of Tyagi’s character arc in the story.
But there is, of course, a concerted effort to maintain simplicity and, thus, a level of comfort for the viewers tuning in to the show. There is an old-school charm to the show that feels natural, even though it is retro-fitted to attract that elusive group of audience in the Indian Markets—the family who enjoys “clean comedy.” “Mamla Legal Hai” might not be very squeaky clean, but it is intelligent enough, funny just enough, over the top just enough, and emotionally vulnerable just about enough to tide its viewership over.
The credit does go to the performances, which are universally excellent across the board. Ravi Kishen as Tyagi is enjoying a resurgence and a great week of playing complex and witty characters with hearts of gold hidden beneath thorny exteriors. Like Tyagi, “Mamla Legal Hai” also has a heart of gold hidden beneath thorns. I just wanted the thorns to be sharper.
