There is much anger among lawyers on the release of the upcoming release of Arshad Warsi-starrer starrer, Jolly LLB. As soon as its trailer went on air, at least three different cases were filed against the release of the movie scheduled for March 15.

A group of lawyers in Meerut moved the Delhi high court against the release of the movie claiming that the scenes in the trailer are defamatory and should be seen as ‘contempt of court’. Chief justice of the high court D Murugesan, along with Justice VK Jain, however turned down the petition saying that the release of the film cannot be stopped only on the basis of the trailer.

The second notice from a Delhi-based law firm SC Gupta and Ankit has objected to the fact that Arshad Warsi, who in the film misspells appeal for apple and prosecution for prostitution in his pleadings to the court, refers to Meerut University as his alma mater, which is derogatory to the institution.

The anger among the lawyers is understandable. Lawyers by nature are an aggressive breed. Like Jeremy Bentham said, “The power of the lawyer is in the uncertainty of the law.” The extent of this uncertainty has always provided them enough scope. All of it was not negative though. India’s freedom struggle, for example, was led by brilliant lawyers.

But with passage of time, like with all professions, this also has witnessed massive corrosion. Lack of talent and integrity have taken the sheen out of the profession. For example, despite coming from a family of lawyers and judges at least since the last six generations, my father made sure I was not drawn to legal studies at any point of my brief academic life. He was not an exception. During the 1970s and 80s, law faculties of the universities in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi were known more for housing budding political leaders than promising lawyers. Youngsters who failed to make the cut for government jobs ended up enrolling for legal studies. The option of private jobs was still a decade away.

As a fallout, lower courts all over the state saw a surge of youngsters in black coats. Overpopulation of lawyers changed the tricks of the trade. Instead of litigants approaching lawyers, lawyers began approaching, or rather cajoling them. Some of the ways were really weird. Youngsters with rural connections took a journey back to the roots to make a killing in the profession. Others took different routes, some of them again weird. And everything changed.

Entering a district court became difficult for people as lawyers mobbed clients in a bid to convince them of their talents. But then, the smart Alecs among lawyers had done their homework better and netted litigants long before they began their journey to the court.

It is unreasonable that lawyers now find a celluloid projection of all this objectionable. A hearty laugh should invite no scowls.

What surprises me the most, however, is that nobody has raised objection to Bappi Da’s "gaan" (song) which is being shown in the trailer. The lyrics of the song are “Mere toh law lag gaye". Since the censor board has cleared it, I will not comment on this, though I know it is not even a case of double meaning.
After singing the first line, Bappi Da also laughs and asks the audience, “samjhe na?" The song has another version, the lyrics of which are “mere toh L lag gaye”.

Now this is something which should be objected to, and not the some harmless spelling mistakes.