‘Paatal Lok’...An engrossing and uncompromising investigative drama that spans multiple issues with flair.
In one of the nine episodes of Paatal Lok, Sara Mathews (Niharika Dutt), an investigative journalist working for an English News channel in New Delhi calls up a local reporter, Amithosh (Shreedhar Dubey), of the small town of Chitrakoot for some scoop from the hinterlands. He is surprised, as the English (language) media tends to turn a blind eye to the happenings in the interior parts of the country, so what prompted their curiosity suddenly? That’s what Paatal Lok essentially is about, an extensive look at the crimes that though take place in cities, (and hence are brought to attention to the local authorities), but their seeds are sown in hinterlands where there is virtually no law and order and caste-based violence and oppression is still abysmally prevalent.
The title, Paatal Lok, which is the netherworld in Hindu mythology is an analogy that Hathi Ram Chaudhary (a peerless Jaideep Ahlawat) uses to illustrate one of three hierarchical worlds of Delhi to rookie Imran Ansari (a sincere Ishwak Singh). Paatal Lok is the downtrodden part of Delhi, where the insects reside; Swarg Lok i.e. heaven, is Lutyens Delhi, and Dharti Lok i.e. Earth are the areas of Noida, Vasant Vihar, Mehrauli, and Preet Vihar. This is just one of the many Hindu mythological tales that the story incorporates into the narrative; one of them smoothly tying into the reveal.
After four suspects (Abhishek Banerjee, Jagjeet Sandhu, Aasif Khan, Mairembam Ronaldo Singh) are arrested on the charge of conspiracy to murder of the famed journalist Sanjeev Mehra (Neeraj Kabi), Hathi Ram is assigned his first high profile case of his career. His investigation soon leads him deep into the heart of the country, the badlands, where caste-based discrimination and murder and rape are regular occurrences. This is where the show highly excels as it takes a humanist approach to shed light on the issues at hand. Writer Sudip Sharma painstakingly establishes various characters, their relations, their struggles in the society to paint a broad painting of this enormous country of polarising contradictions.
When Imran fails to catches a suspect, the guilt hangs heavier on him because the suspect was a Muslim and as a minority, he is always pressured to prove his loyalty more than other Hindu officers. Hathi Ram’s son, Siddharth (Bodhisattva Sharma) struggles to fit in with both his English Medium school and his locality friends who chaff me for being posh. Sanjeev Mehra’s wife, Dolly (played by a fantastic Swastika Mukherjee) chants Buddhist hymns for positive vibes, battles anxiety, and the inner tussle of being childless. The four suspects of the case are themselves victims of an oppressive society that marginalizes them. The backstories of each of these suspects humanises them and provides their direct viewpoint to the injustices they have faced and how the justice system has severely failed them and continues to do so now too. Paatal Lok uses the interweaving of these backstories and the present-day investigation to show us the crude reality of caste-based violence and oppression, the total absence of rights for the transgender community, domestic violence, Islamophobia, Hindu nationalism, and poverty, among many others. Instead of falling under the weight of so much subject matter, the show is well-paced and crisply edited, keeping you on the ends of the seats, no matter how wicked the crimes become.
Paatal Lok can be difficult to watch as it shows these acts of violence for what they are, not preaching against them nor incriminating them with a set moral code. Without any filter, the show exposes the hopeless plight of our country, which we so often choose to ignore. It is shocking the casual way an uncle barters his own nieces as part of a business deal or children used to being raped by men or the policeman who is more worried about the fact that the rape didn’t occur in his jurisdiction, than apprehending the culprit. This isn’t a tragedy, it is a world of despair and it is fitting that the climax doesn’t offer any resolution. As DCP Bhagat (Vipin Sharma) states that a corrupt system may seem a mess from afar, but it works like a well-oiled machine, one that will never stop running, as everyone within it keeps doing everything in their power to keep this system running in place, and if they don’t, they are simply replaced.
Paatal Lok is a powerful tale, though of misery, but a hopeful one for writers, actors, and the streaming services, as it displays the power of the medium of storytelling. It is truly a must-watch!
