Rating : 4.2/5
Genre : Mystery/Suspense
Year : 2020
Episodes : 9
Running time : 45 minutes (per episode)
Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime
Directors : Prosit Roy, Avinash Arun
Cast : Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Gul Panag, Neeraj Kabi, Abhishek Banerjee, Niharika Lyra Dutt, Swastika Mukherjee, Rajesh Sharma, Anup Jalota
Kid rating : R, A
Inspector Hathi Ram Chaudhary (Ahlawat) lands a big case – a rare thing for him, since his career has stagnated at the Outer Jamuna Par police station, forever mired in the petty crimes of what he calls “Paatal Lok” (Hell/The Underworld), while his sycophantic juniors rise to higher positions. You feel for the poor sod.
Determined to make this the case that will garner him the promotions, Hathi Ram leaves no stone unturned in the investigation. Even as he is making headway, the case is yanked from him and handed over to the CBI, and he is suspended over a minor incident. It all looks pretty suspicious and Hathi Ram, inspite of dire warnings and threats, can’t let go.
Paatal Lok is a first-class mystery, red-herrings everywhere. It’s well-made, features an underdog as the hero, a great cast and some fantastic story-telling. Although there are many characters and many different threads which come together to make this story, kudos to the directors for keeping everything clear and coherent. Paatal Lok is very well-layered, new facts come to light as the layers unravel. I especially liked how various bits and pieces fit together in an almost flashback like fashion – we might see a fragment of a scene before and it seems innocuous then, but the narrative winds back to it later giving it a whole new significance. The series is beautifully paced; the suspense is constant and keeps you hooked.
Paatal Lok has it’s milieu down pat – it feels realistic and authentic. Via Hathi Ram’s investigations and his deep dives into criminal pasts, it weaves into its story the various ills of Indian society – the caste system, religious violence and bias, classism, corruption, sexism and the poor treatment of women. It doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable depictions either – there is gory violence (think hammers), rape, and paedophilia; the portrayal is brutal and often, very sudden.
The series is what it is because of it’s two main characters – Chaudhry and Ansari – very different people, but both striving to rise above their upbringing and social environment to do the right thing. Jaideep Ahlawat is fabulous as Chaudhry. It is wonderful to see actors like Ahlawat finally get prime-time roles – and we probably have the advent of Netflix and Amazon Prime to thank for that. I remember Ahlawat ‘s good work in Gangs of Wasseypur and Raazi but he truly comes into his own as the harried, put-upon, under-appreciated cop who won’t give up. Ishwak Singh is another find. As Imran Ansari,the well-educated English-speaking junior Inspector he is the perfect foil to Ahlawat’s gruff-mannered Haryanvi Chaudhry.
The husband and I breezed through the addictive first season of Paatal Lok in one sitting, breaking only for food and the bathroom. A very well-spent Saturday. May there be many more!
Kidwise: Depictions of bloody violence, rape, sexual situations and nudity.
