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
