‘Lakhan Leela Bhargava’ Series Review - Story of a Criminal Lawyer

Lakhan Leela Bhargava is a new Jio Cinema series that follows the life of a lawyer who is struggling to get a case and shine in the court. The series stars Ravi Dubey as Lakhan, there are a few notable support actors such as Akshay Joshi as his friend Raju, Ariah Agarwal, Mohit Chauhan as his father Mohan Shandiliya, Bhuvnesh Mann as his half-brother Neeraj Shandiliya, Sonali Sachdev as his mother Leela, and Sanvikaa.

The first episode introduces us to Lakhan, who is a talented lawyer but fails to get any cases because of Mohan Shandiliya’s name, the biggest lawyer in the city. Lakhan is also very empathetic and does not take up cases that he feels are unjust or unethical.

The episode starts outside Lucknow court where, he tries to impress an old man who is suing two youngsters for damaging his property, but backs out when he learns that the old man wants to humiliate them. He then goes to his home, where he finds his mother pretending to commit suicide and stops her by cutting the cable connection. Lakhan’s mother is very supportive of him and wants him to succeed in his career, she is very enthusiastic about acting. 

Lakhan finally gets a client who needs a lawyer for a murder case. Lakhan is excited and goes to meet the client, who turns out to be an accountant named Mrs Preeti Acharya who is accused of framing a jewellery shop robbery and murder of the owner. Lakhan agrees to the request of her husband and agrees to take up her case without any fees. However, when he reaches the court, he finds out that the prosecutor is none other than Neeraj Shandiliya, his half-brother who hates him and wants to ruin his career. Neeraj mocks Lakhan and tells him that he has no chance of winning the case. The episode ends on a cliffhanger when Mrs Acharya at the moment of starting the trial tells the judge that she wants to change his lawyer. 

The first impression I got from the first episode, is it is an Indian spin-off of Better Call Saul. Because Lakhan literally says that, he is first a criminal, then a Lawyer, so that’s why he is a ‘Criminal Lawyer’. Apart from that, everything in this series is exaggerated to the ‘Bollywood’ level from that iconic ‘dhoom-tana’ type background music from Indian serials to romantically bumping into the heroine, Lakhan immediately starts flirting with her which seemed really cheeky to me.

The first episode sets up the premise and the characters of the series in an engaging way, though the series is filled with clichés and predictable plot twists, I did not feel bored even for a second because of the funny and humorous dialogues, they try to be funny so hard that it works most of the time.

The series is a mix of genres because it balances the serious and the humorous aspects of Lakhan’s life. It also has elements of struggle and compassion that add to the drama and the entertainment value. I loved Lakhan’s deep interaction with his mother when they talked about his career and his father, the writers handled it in a good way.

Ravi Dubey as Lakhan portrays his frustration and optimism with his voice and his gestures, and I can’t deny that he is dashing as hell! I would have liked him more if his dialogues were more intellectual because that fits his looks perfectly.

If you have missed Better Call Saul, or waiting for its Hindi dubbing release, I think you will get a Xerox copy version of it in this series. I am also hoping to see a few of Matt Murdoch’s characteristics thrown into our beloved Lakhan! Let's see what happens next as it is really early to judge the series this fast.

Final Score – [7/10]
Reviewed by - Arpita Mondal
Follow @ArpitaMond33387 on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times