Actor Amit Vikram on using comedy to address male harassment in Maamla Legal Hai 2

Actor Amit Vikram Pandey opens up about playing a male harassment survivor in Maamla Legal Hai Season 2 and why the story goes beyond a "man vs woman" debate.

In Short

• Actor Amit Vikram said the storyline raises discomfort without being preachy
• He recalled a childhood incident to understand how casual misconduct leaves scars
• Law experiences the situation seriously even as those around him laugh

Actor Amit Vikram Pandey, who plays Nikunj, popularly known as Law, in the Netflix comedy Maamla Legal Hai Season 2, has spoken about approaching a sensitive storyline with care and drawing from his own childhood experience. There is a scene in Maamla Legal Hai Season 2 where the audience laughs and then, if they are paying attention, stops to wonder why. That moment, for Pandey, is precisely the point.

Pandey plays Nikunj, fondly nicknamed Law, in the Netflix courtroom comedy, a by-the-book, well-meaning intern navigating the cheerful madness of the Patparganj court. This season, his character is subjected to harassment by his landlady, a storyline that flips a very familiar dynamic on its head. It is played within the show's comic genre, but, underneath it, there is something uncomfortable that sits quietly.

"When I read about the track, I was actually happy because it's an important issue. The best thing is it doesn't seem preachy. Log shayad hasenge, but agar hasne ke baad woh sochne lage ki main kyun hassa (People might laugh, but if after laughing they start wondering why they laughed) — that's where the writing wins. It's not about men versus women, it's about flaws in the system," said Pandey.

The harassment track in the second season of Maamla Legal Hai is not making a grand statement. It is doing something quieter and, arguably, more effective — slipping a real issue into a comedy, letting audiences absorb it without feeling lectured, and then leaving the discomfort to do its work.

Drawing from something real

To prepare for the scenes, Amit Vikram Pandey did not just research the subject from the outside. He went somewhere more personal.

"I remember an incident from my childhood. There was an uncle in our society who would pull down kids' pants as a joke. People used to laugh, but for us, it was disturbing. I was very young then, and all I could do was cry. Even today, it feels uncomfortable to talk about it. People often brush off such moments as jokes, but they stay with you," he shared.

It is a small detail, and he shares it without drama. But it explains a lot about how he approached the track — not as a comic bit to be performed, but as something with real weight beneath it.

"I was just given the brief that the character is very serious about this. I spoke to a few people and also recalled some of my own experiences. In the end, it was about being honest. In the scene, everyone else is laughing, but for him, it's not funny at all," added Pandey.

That gap between how the people around Law perceive his situation and how he actually experiences it is where the performance lives.

The character who clicked

Pandey came to the role with minimal context. Speaking about the initial days, he said, "When I got the audition, there were just two scenes and a mention of 'Law and Order'. I didn't fully understand it then. Later, during the reading, it was explained that Law is the one who follows the rulebook, while Order represents the system. That's when it clicked — he's that sincere, by-the-book guy who always wants to do the right thing."

The audience, it turned out, connected with that sincerity more than anyone expected. "Honestly, the response has been quite overwhelming. I didn't expect people to connect with it so much. I got messages from old friends — even people from my school days reached out. I also received a call from a lawyer at the Allahabad High Court, and that really stayed with me. He said it reminded him of his younger days, when he was just as straightforward, before the system changed him. That meant a lot."

It is a telling response. Law's appeal is not that he is funny — it is that he is genuine. In a show full of people who have learnt to work around the system, he is still trying to work within it.

Comedy is harder than it looks

For all its lightness, Maamla Legal Hai demands a specific kind of precision. Pandey is candid about that. "Comedy is one of the toughest genres because the timing has to be absolutely right. For me, it became a bit easier because I had a director who was very clear. Rahul (Pandey) sir guided me but also gave me space to explore, especially in the first take. That balance really helped."

Working alongside Ravi Kishan — one of the most experienced performers in the business — added another layer of learning. Sharing his experience of working with the senior actor, he said, "Ravi sir is an institution. He has so many years of experience, but he's very warm. You don't feel intimidated at all. He makes everyone comfortable. The biggest learning is how he transforms the moment the camera rolls. It's amazing to watch," said the actor.

Beyond Maamla Legal Hai, Pandey has an independent psychological thriller doing the festival rounds and his character in the project is quite different from Law.

Maamla Legal Hai Season 2 is streaming on Netflix.

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