Paatal Lok is a police-based investigative thriller inspired by the traditional concepts of Svarga, Dharti and Paatal, as metaphors for the different classes of India and the four estates. Sudip Sharma began writing Paatal Lok in the beginning of 2017. For Sharma it was his maiden attempt at writing in long-form. The writing team also consisted of Hardik Mehta, Gunjit Chopra, Sagar Haveli who were also beginners in writing a series. Sharma wrote the first and last three episodes, while the remaining five were written by the other writers. All the writers did field research visiting places in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in 2017. The show has two directors, Prosit Roy and Avinash Arun Dhaware, both directing different portions of the series. The series has been shot in 110 cities in India.
Styles and themes
Mythological Tropes
Socio-economic divisions in India are metaphorically compared with the mythological Indian concepts of Svarga, Dharti and Paatal. Delhi is used as the story-telling playground where Lutyens Delhi is heaven, Vasant Vihar and Noida is the earth while Jamna Paar in East Delhi is hell. The climax of the story is also based on the mythological fable of Yudhisthira's dog from the Mahabharata.
Didactic themes
The show gives an insight into various forms of discrimination in India, including dislike against Muslims through the character of Ishwak Singh as Imran Ansari. Religion and caste are also visible in the show. Chinni's story begins out the issues of child abuse and discrimination against transgenders. Hathoda Tyagi's background gives insight into the abysmal state of women safety in rural India.
Synopsis
Inspector Hathi Ram Chaudhary is a washed out Delhi cop who has nothing interesting to look forward to in his less than ordinary career. But that is until the day a high profile case lands on his table, a case too big and important for his designation. The case turns into a dark mystery that leads inspector into a cynical, darker realm of underworld. Hathi Ram’s instinct tells him to investigate into the lives of the suspects. He discovers startling truths and insights that eventually help him rediscover his responsibilities as a cop, his place in life and the larger scheme of things itself.
Cast and characters
Jaideep Ahlawat as Hathiram Chaudhary, a policeman
Gul Panag as Hathiram's wife, Renu
Bodhisattva Sharma as Siddharth Chaudhary, Hathiram's son
Ishwak Singh as Imran Ansari, Hathiram's junior
Neeraj Kabi as high profile journalist and anchor Sanjeev Mehra
Swastika Mukherjee as Dolly Mehra, Sanjeev's wife
Niharika Lyra Dutt as Sara Matthews
Abhishek Banerjee as Vishal "Hathoda" Tyagi
Jagjeet Sandhu as Tope Singh "Chaaku"
Asif Khan as Kabir M
Mairembam Ronaldo Singh as Mary Lyngdoh or Chini
Sandeep Mahajan as Delhi Intelligence officer Dahiya
Akshay Sharma as Masterji
Anindita Bose as Chanda Mukherjee
Vipin Sharma as DCP Bhagat
Asif Basra as Jai Malik
Manish Choudhary as Vikram Kapoor
Akash Khurana as Singh Saab
Rajesh Sharma as Gwala Gujjar
Anup Jalota as Balkishan Bajpayee
Anurag Arora as SHO Virk
Tushar Dutt as Raju Bhaiyya
Amit Raj as journalist
Episodes
Reception
Paatal Lok opened to rave reviews and was critically acclaimed with many calling it the best hindi show till date in India. The day the series was released, Anurag Kashyap tweeted that Paatal Lok is "the best crime thriller to come out of this country," adding that "It comes from the understanding of Real India. The dark heart of India, the communal and casteist India". Filmstars Manoj Bajpayee and Alia Bhatt both took to Twitter to praise the show and the acting. Saibal Chatterjee gave the series 4 stars and writing in his NDTV review "Is Paatal Lok Amazon Prime's Sacred Games? No. It is more." Jaideep Ahlawat, Neeraj Kabi and Swastika Mukherjee were praised for their performances. Namrata Joshi of The Hindu writes that the performances are "powerful all around", adding that on display are "the pent up prejudices against Muslims, the dehumanisation of the lower castes and the rage and angst of the have-nots against the haves." In a review in the Film Companion, Anupama Chopra praises Anushka Sharma for producing Paatal Lok and wrote "Paatal Lok is a tightly knit thriller our perception of the characters shifts as the story unravels so that it becomes impossible to decide the good, bad and ugly".
