‘Maamla Legal Hai’ Season 2 Review: Despite Inconsistencies, Consistently Provokes, Tickles and Surprises You

Every time one descends into the chaos of Patparganj, there’s a new story unfolding at a frenetic pace. Everything demands attention and everyone demands it now. In that vein and without wasting time in elaborate recaps, the second season builds on the chasm left by V.D. Tyagi’s (Ravi Kishan) promotion to Principal District Judge after Judge Bainsla (Tanvi Azmi) moves on. 

The first episode of “Maamla Legal Hai” Season 2, “Without Fear or Favour” gets into the thick of things as we see how a cough during his oath-taking almost derails Tyagi’s judicial ambitions. How Lakhmir ‘Mintu’ Balli (Anjum Batra) and Sujata Negi (Nidhi Bisht) have to decide how to work together as a team to keep the partnership alive. And how Ananya Shroff (Naila Grewal) meeting her bete noire Nayana Arora (Kusha Kapila) could be the setup for a much-needed firework show, the series needed. 

“Unbiased” follows. Tyagi discovers the havoc a single smile can wreak. Sujata and Ananya fight a seemingly ‘lost cause’ battle for colleague Law (Amit Vikram Pandey) with his landlady, quickly realising that they have to change tack to win the day.

The third episode, “Balanced” brings home the point that it’s not always easy to do the right thing, even when you’re in a position of power. And it’s a point driven home by Tyagi’s aide Vipin Topo (who we’re introduced to, in the first episode itself) over and over, and this is something that comes to roost in this episode. A case comes up about trusting the word of a drunkard over the potency of the alcohol he’s been consuming.

“Emotional Attachment” largely deals with an organ-donation case and Tyagi dealing with being left out of a farewell karaoke party. The next episode, “Juvenile” has Nayana and Ananya join forces to convince a witness to testify for their respective client, by convincing his child to give up his plans of being a career criminal.

A court appointed observer has everyone on their feet and concealing the obvious snags in the court’s infrastructure and it keeps going from bad to worse in Episode 6, “Act Of God.” In the same episode, a divorce proceeding looks headed for disaster. When you reach the seventh episode, “Compromise” there’s a mellowness that seeps in with a dead man’s wife and his partner sparring over property even as a conman is reportedly at large in the premises.

The final episode, “Beyond Reform” ties up loose ends. The conman teased in “Compromise” is caught, Balli and Negi make their peace, the case Ananya and Nayana spar for, comes to an end. And Tyagi is forced to make a life-or-death decision that’s entirely his own.

There’s a certain kind of crowd that watches “Maamla Legal Hai.” They’re either in-the-closet watchers of the “Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah” brand of sitcoms or are ignorant of the fact that “Night Court” (2023) exists. It’s enjoyable, passable, not too heavy on emotions and drama despite being partly based on true court stories.

We see the judiciary as possessing a certain gravitas and while that’s expected, we tend to forget that the legal system is also fertile for stranger-than-fiction stories. Meting out justice is serious business, but the idiosyncrasies in the system need to be pointed out just as often.

Rahul Pandey returns as series director with much of the ensemble cast backing Ravi Kishen’s Tyagi to the hilt. Kishen is, quite literally, the strongest reason to binge-watch this show start-to-end. Yes, the supporting cast has its moments, but you continue to feel nothing for what started out as the narrative voice Naila Grewal’s Ananya. She shows no growth in her learnings, several cases on and her solitary win finally comes right at the end of Season 2. In brief, recurring appearances, Kusha as her rival Nayana comes off far stronger, more confident and quite clearly in control of her craft.

Nidhi Bisht always impresses as Sujata, for sure, but it is effortless performances by new entrants Dibyendu Bhattacharyya (as Justice Shubhkhela) and R. Badree (as Bipin Topo, Tyagi’s new Man Friday) who emerge as this season’s scene-stealers. The latter has some of the best comedic, yet profound moments put to a series.

Bhojpuri superstar Dinesh Lal Yadav (popularly known as Nirahua) as Banaspati brings the laughs with physicality and a bit of risque humour to an already funny show. And the cameos are aplenty (Anand Tiwari in Ep. 5, ‘Chiraiya’ lead Prasanna Bisht in Ep. 6, Gautam Rode in Ep. 7 come to mind immediately).

Tanvi Azmi’s gentle parenting of Kishen’s Tyagi is sorely missed for most of this season and it is the complete beat shift in the finale that catches you unawares. For a show that’s light on the eyes and on the emotions but heavy on the humour, it lands the emotional gavel quite hard during the season finale. 

And that’s why you watch this series. Because ever so often, despite the inconsistencies, it consistently provokes, tickles and occasionally, surprises you with its creative choices. That roughness around the edges is what makes MLH work so well.

“Maamla Legal Hai” is currently streaming on Netflix.