Akshay Kumar is a great actor, his comic timing is fab too, but somehow he doesn't seem to fit the character of Jagdishwar Mishra aka Jolly in Subhash Kapoor's satirical comedy Jolly LLB 2. The first part Jolly LLB had Arshad Warsi play the protagonist and he somehow fit this bill of a loser lawyer trying to find a footing. The premise of the first part was extremely organic and full of surprises unlike the current one, which is way too predictable and preachy.

Saddled by bureaucracy, corruption and apathy, no fight for justice is prompt or pleasant. But when formulated for mainstream Hindi films, it acquires the personality of a ham revelling in its inflated sentimentality or silliness till it hits the point of parody or propaganda. If clever, the upshot is sure-fire applause.

The new courtroom drama Jolly LL.B 2 skillfully shows off the talents of both, its director story/scriptwriter Subhash Kapoor and its star Akshay Kumar. It's refreshing to watch a single-genre film where the entire supporting cast too, excels. It's a rare film, which brims with authentic details, zippy dialogue and colourful performances from even the smallest players.

He shares his dream with great zeal to be a top vakil (lawyer). She snoozes over the borrowed whiskey and dreams to be the Gucci queen of Kanpur. Meet the new Jolly - Jagdishwar Mishra (Akshay Kumar) and his wife Pushpa Panday (Huma Qureshi) in helmer Subhash Kapoor's attempt to make hay while the problems in our court proceedings shines in this 2nd franchise of the lovably funny lawyer series JOLLY LLB that starred Arshad Warsi in the first instalment.

Three years after Arshad Warsi donned the black suit of a lawyer to entertain us with Jolly LLB, Akshay Kumar took up the reins of the franchise to play Jagdishwar Mishra a.k.a Jolly, a 'jugaadu' lawyer with a heart of gold. This time, Jolly is a junior lawyer from Lucknow, who assists a veteran legal eagle and dreams of opening his own chambers. When Jolly takes money for the chambers from a pregnant widow Hina (Sayani Gupta) after lying to her about getting his senior to fight her case, tragedy strikes and turns Jolly's world upside down.

It is never be easy for a serious-minded courtroom satire that swivels around the grim reality of fake encounters to stick to a style steeped in wit and breezy humour without occasionally wobbling off its axis. Jolly LLB 2, caught in a cramped channel between gravitas and jest, does sometimes teeter dangerously close to straying on to shaky ground. But thanks to the politics that underlines writer-director Subhash Kapoor's flashier follow-up to his 2013 sleeper hit, Jolly LLB 2 is a film that makes important and relevant points about distorted law enforcement and justice delivery in a democracy of disempowered and oppressed constituents.

Jolly LLB was a jolly good movie. A little film by Subhash Kapoor, Jolly LLB was shouldered by actors like Arshad Warsi and Saurabh Shukla. Actors, not stars. So when a second film in the franchise is announced, and an Akshay Kumar is attached along with it, it sort of brings about mixed feelings in people. On the one hand, while a star comes with expectations along, there's somewhere a shred of regret at seeing yet another tiny film being hijacked by a star. But Kumar doesn't let his stardom overshadow his performance.

JOLLY LLB 2 is a satirical courtroom drama that comments on the legal system as a whole and the effect that the judicial system has on the common man. The film starts off with the 'two-wheeler' entry of Jagadishwar Mishra aka 'Jolly', the very man who becomes instrumental in the mass-copying of the school children's English exams. So much confidence Jolly has in his English, that he claims that even 'Obama's mother cannot fail any student' this time.

Jagdishwar Mishra aka Jolly (Akshay Kumar) is a struggling lawyer who makes his living assisting a big time Lucknow lawyer and also by taking up small cases individually. His wife, Pushpa (Huma Qureshi) on the other hand, enjoys her drink but is immesely supportive of her husband. After accidentally messing up with Hina's (Sayani Gupta) case, Jolly's conscience takes a beating and he decides to bring her justice.

Jolly LLB 2 is the kind of film Hindi cinema used to make at a time when its primary activity was to tell a rousing tale, using star power to embellish it. This sequel of Jolly LLB, infinitely superior to the first, brings back the joys of watching a movie with a solid plot, a strong sense of time and place and rhythm, and a confidence in itself that has been missing from Bollywood. Yes, there a few dips, and some slips, but on the whole, this Akshay Kumar-starrer is a win.

Jagdishwar Mishra aka Jolly (Akshay) starts out as a prominent lawyer's sidekick in Kanpur. Driven by ambition, he hoodwinks a pregnant widow, Hina Siddique (Sayani Gupta) on the lookout for justice. He lands the murder case of her husband, but when she realises he is a fraud, she kills herself. Leaving Jolly with guilt on his conscience and an unresolved case in his hands. Now, he wants justice more than ever.

It was that rare Bollywood venture that journeyed into an Indian courtroom with realistic storytelling rather than manufactured high-decibel dialoguebaazi, drawing humour and melodrama from true-to-life situations and through the medium of some of the industry's finest actors led by the inimitable Arshad Warsi. That is an intimidating legacy to live up to.

There is a real world outside Bollywood courtrooms where a common man can't differentiate between a corrupt judicial system and a fraudulent police administration. And this world comes charging at you before you can look away. Add a few bullets and some dark humour and you get Jolly LLB 2, the second film in the Jolly LLB (2013) franchise.