Paatal Lok - Review

Amazon Prime’s latest original, Paatal Lok, opens with a scene in a Police jeep. A seemingly senior cop is driving while explaining to his subordinate the concept of ‘teen lok’, as per mythology. He later says Outer Yamuna Paar, the area under his jurisdiction, is ‘Paatal Lok’, because it only has pests and the downtrodden. Until, a high-profile assassination bid is foiled and the case lands on his table for investigation. Sub Inspector Hathiram Chaudhary (Jaideep Ahlawat), leads us through the investigation which is complicatedly knotted with politics, gangsters, petty thieves and a media baron, Sanjeev Mehra (Neeraj Kabi), who is to be assassinated. As Hathiram and his junior cop, Ansari (Ishwak Singh) untie the knots, a deeply rotted system is uncovered.

At the core of the investigation are four accused – Mary Lyngdoh, a masseuse and a call girl; Kabir, a petty car thief; Tope Singh, a murderer on the run and Vishal Tyagi (AKA Hathoda Tyagi), a criminal accused in 35 brutal murders, using his favourite device – a hammer (hathoda). What begins as an investigation into the aborted attack on Sanjeev Mehra soon turns into the unravelling of muck in the system – the deadly nexus between politicians & gangsters and the power-hungry media ready to sensationalise any ‘fake news’.

But, Paatal Lok, gives us much more to ponder about, commenting on almost all the issues in our society today. From the blatant discrimination of people on the basis of caste and religion to the plight of the LGBT community, the series touches upon a lot of uncomfortable issues. And the writers do not make any of the issues come to the foreground or force it into the narrative – all of them have been subtly put, without giving a judgement and leaving the viewers to draw conclusions. The show also brilliantly uses recent news events to weave into the story – there is even a mob lynching sequence for allegedly eating beef! Again, none of these sub-plots deviate from the main premise – investigating the four accused.

It also made me question what makes us ostracise or look down upon a person or a community? Is it because people are ill-treated and marginalised, that they take to violent means to vent out their ire? Or is it because of their actions that they are marginalised? You ask this question more than once here– when a young boy is bullied for being born in a lower caste and he violently slits their throats. You also question this when a schoolboy avenges the rape of his sisters by breaking the skulls of the rapists. It also crosses your mind when you see a boy from a modest background being bullied by his rich friends in a posh Delhi school, leading to him pointing a gun at them. In all the three incidents, you see the oppressed being pushed against the wall and the society being responsible for their actions. But the question remains answered – who takes the blame here? Like a character says in the movie, ‘Jab bande ke paas koi aas na ho, toh who chup chaap sehen kar leta hai. Par jab mann mein aas paida karde toh? Badi gandi cheez hai aas’ (A person silently endures when he has no hope. But when you ignite hope? Hope can wreck people’)

Paatal Lok is terrifying and has some disturbing moments which are, sadly, a reflection of our society. While it succeeds in dwelling into multiple issues, it tends to lose some steam, especially in episodes 6 and 7, where it starts to feel a bit slow. However, that is a very minor aberration. I also liked the fact that the show does not show a Sub-Inspector to be larger than life, just because he is at the centre of the story. Like he says towards the end, ‘main chhota aadmi hu sahib, chahu toh kya kar sakta hu?’ (Am a small man sir, even if I want, what can I do?) Unlike Sartaj (Saif Ali Khan) from Sacred Games, who is almost invincible, Hathiram in Paatal Lok feels more real, rooted and vulnerable.

The fact that the show has stellar actors only makes it an even better watch! Neeraj Kabi as the manipulative leftist media baron is well cast. Abhishek Bannerjee gets only two or three dialogues in the entire show yet speaks volumes through his menacing eyes and spine-chilling demeanour. The rest of the case is great too, especially Ishwak Singh and Jagjeet Sandhu as Ansari and Tope Singh, respectively. Gul Panag is nicely cast as a supportive wife; however, I found her accent and language a bit odd for the milieu that she belonged to. If that was a deliberate character trait, it wasn’t explained well.

But the star here is Jaideep Ahlawat, in a spectacular performance as SI Hathiram Chaudhary. He shoulders the show perfectly and does not get a single acting note wrong. This will certainly stand out in his body of work. Not just the scenes at work, see him in the confrontational scene with his son and his friend Raju, he is menacing yet a concerned father. Having a troubled childhood, he continues to battle inner turmoil, which reflects in his broken relationship with his son and a stagnant career. Jaideep delivers with aplomb!

Paatal Lok can shook you and touch uneasy nerves, but in the end, you realise it is probably a reflection of the reality we live in. You realise this is hell – this is Paatal Lok!

My Rating – 4/5