LAWYERS HAVE AN INHERENT ACTOR IN THEM

Actors Pavan Malhotra, Ashish Verma and writer Puneet Batra discuss their recently released Sony LIV show their observations of courts, why Pavan feels destiny plays a role in acting and more

- SHREYAS PANDE

vide a guarantee for his friend. He recalls the nervous moment when he was asked to get into the witness box with his papers. "The judge asked me, 'Whose guarantee are you giving?' I gestured to my friend, and the entire court erupted in laughter. The judge then told me not to gesture but say it out loud," Pavan says. The actor also visited courts while working as a production manager on Saeed Akhtar Mirza's Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho (1984). That's when he came across "all sorts of people doing law". "In India, there are many who don't have anything else to do, so they study law," he smiles. Writer-actor Puneet Batra, who has worked on the show's screenplay and has also played the role of a lawyer, visited the courts along with his team during the writing process. Puneet says that it was helpful to witness the hearings up close to understand the nuances of how judges operate, and the kind of relationship they share with lawyers. He also spoke to some lawyers to understand their perspective, even turning some of their words into quirky dialogues in the show. "Lawyers are performers. They have a certain flair and theatrics when they are in