Maamla Legal Hai, directed by Rahul Pandey, is a lighthearted drama that makes us privy to the day-to-day functioning of a session court and the lives of those legal professionals who work there. The series takes inspiration from certain real-life cases that seem too bizarre to be true. It shows us how different reality is from what one perceives it to be and makes us aware of how a lawyer has to struggle on an everyday basis if they don’t have the required backing. So, let’s find out what Mr. V.D. Tyagi was up to in the series and if he was able to achieve what he set out for.
Spoiler Alert
What did Ananya witness in session court?
When Ananya came to the Parpatganj Sessions Court in Maamla Legal Hai, she came with a very idealistic mindset, not knowing what the reality was. She was shocked to find out that the lawyers didn’t even have chambers to sit in, and they resorted to all kinds of tactics to make a livelihood. Ananya was a third-generation lawyer, and her father ran a big law firm, but she didn’t want to be a part of it. She could have chosen to sit comfortably in her room and make millions of bucks, but instead, she came to the Parpatganj court because she wanted to make a name for herself. She wanted to show her parents that she could establish herself on her own. Moreover, Ananya knew that if she joined her father’s firm, she wouldn’t be able to help the cause of the people who couldn’t afford to hire such expensive lawyers. She wanted to provide legal aid to those who were in need, and she believed that by doing so, she could make sure that justice was served to everybody. But the ground reality was not as simple as it seemed.
Firstly, Ananya had a hard time making people believe in her credibility, and then, secondly, she realized that there were a lot of loopholes in the justice legal system and that if she went by the book, she wouldn’t be able to do anything. Sujata Negi, a lawyer, and Vishwas Panday, a court clerk, provided all the help that Ananya needed, as they knew how hard it was for a newcomer to fit in the system. Moreover, Ananya had graduated from Harvard Law School, and she had directly landed in the Parpatganj court after that, and the transition was way too bizarre for her. But still, Ananya didn’t give up, and she tackled every problem that came her way. Her first big breakthrough came when she took the case of an underage matrimonial alliance where the family of the boy had called off the marriage because they had issues with the financial status of the girl’s family. That was probably the first time Ananya took advantage of the loopholes in the system to get justice for the girl. One more good thing about Ananya was that she never looked down on her colleagues and always treated them with a lot of respect. She knew that she came from a privileged background, but she didn’t take it for granted, and she truly created something for herself that everybody was proud of.
What issues did V.D. Tyagi have with his father?
V.D. Tyagi was a well-known name in the Parpatganj court, and he was the president of the sessions court bar association, aspiring to win the elections of the Delhi Bar Association. V.D. Tyagi had a lot of grudges against his father. His father was a judge in the High Court, but he never helped his son when he was about to start his career. A solid clientele is something that every lawyer aspires to have, and generally, if you are a second or third-generation lawyer, you tend to have it easier as the client base gets passed on to you. A first-generation lawyer, on the other hand, has to spend about half a decade (if they are lucky) just to create that base and earn a livelihood for themselves. Tyagi had to do it all on his own, which was why he had a lot of resentment. His father didn’t send him to a good school, and when he started his legal practice, he didn’t provide him with any kind of assistance. His father’s point of view was that he wanted his son to create his own mark and learn from his own mistakes, but Tyagi didn’t buy his father’s justification. In a scene in Maamla Legal Hai, when Tyagi’s father comes to his home, he has a heated argument with him, and he tells him how nobody in the legal fraternity knew that he was the son of a high court judge. He referred to his father as “Judge Sahab,” which made it evident how distant he felt from him. Tyagi’s father did not argue with him, as he knew that there would come a time when his son would realize that whatever he had done was for his own good.
Did V.D. Tyagi win the elections?
V.D. Tyagi was contesting the election for the Delhi Bar Association, and Mahinder Phorey, his arch-nemesis, was standing against him. Tyagi knew that Phorey would use all his influence to get votes, and so even the former wanted to do something to get leverage. Advocate Jaitley was a huge name in the legal fraternity, and one time, he had to come down to the Parpatganj court for a case he was handling. Nagrath Construction was making a project on land where slum dwellers resided, and they were giving the people compensation to relocate to a different place. Advocate Bagai was fighting the case from the side of the slum dwellers, and he was so awestruck by Mr. Jaitley that he didn’t even think winning the case. Tyagi had something else on his mind. He asked Bagai to do as he said, though Bagai at first was not in favor of that. Tyagi saw that there were many loopholes in the drafting of the documents, as even Jaitley knew that it would be a cakewalk for him, so he didn’t pay a lot of attention to it. Tyagi made sure that Jaitley had a hard time getting the judgment in his favor, and in the end, the latter had to come to Tyagi and ask him not to create any more obstacles. Tyagi said that he would make sure that the matter was decided that day itself if Mr. Jaitley granted him a favor. He requested that Mr. Jaitley ask his employees working in his law firm to vote for him in the upcoming election. Jaitley agreed, and Tyagi, at that juncture, knew that he had turned the tide in his favor.
But the result shocked him, and Phorey won the election by a small margin. Tyagi was distraught about the fact that, after months of preparation, all his plans had come crashing to the ground.
Did Tyagi take the judgeship?
After the election result, Phorey irked Tyagi by demeaning him, and the latter couldn’t bear the insult. Tyagi ended up assaulting Phorey, and he knew that he had dug his own grave, as hitting the newly-elected president of the bar association could have serious consequences. In fact, Mintu, Tyagi’s friend, his interns, Law and Order, and even Sujata came and bashed Phorey with him. Munshi Ji was not happy with Tyagi’s behavior, and he told him that this was not how he should have reacted. But the unthinkable happened after that incident—something that even Tyagi hadn’t seen coming. Tyagi was offered the judgeship of the High Court, and he checked twice with Justice Sikhri to see if he had called the right man.
Tyagi was not sure about becoming a judge, as he felt that, firstly, he was making far more money, and secondly, as he described it, there was no kick in it. But when he took advice from his seniors, he realized that there was nothing more gratifying than having the authority to save a person’s life and granting them a second chance. It was a different feeling altogether, and Tyagi decided that he would sit on the prestigious chair and try his level best to do justice to it.
During Maamla Legal Hai‘s ending, Tyagi took the offer and became the judge of the high court and additionally he made sure that Mintu, Sujata, Munshi Ji, and even Law and Order got settled in their careers.
