Pataal Lok (TV Series )
Amazon Prime, for long has been trying to outdo the frenzied success that Sacred Games brought for Netflix India. They finally might have found one. In Pataal Lok, produced by Anushka Sharma, directed by Sudip Sharma.
Set in the seedier outlands of Delhi ( Outer Jamnaa Paar ) Pataal Lok is a black noir thriller with mythological overtones, focused on the efforts of a down-on-his-luck honest but cynical cop, Hathi Ram Chaudhary's attempts to unravel the mystery behind a failed assassination attempt of a high-profile journalist. It succeeds at different levels, often because of the realistic treatment of the issues of casteism, racial prejudices and the political machinations that is weaved into the crime-narrative, rather than be just backdrops against which typically such crimes flourish. While the first couple of episodes lays the foundation for an intriguing mystery and assuredly plumbs the seedier parts of a Delhi, we have never seen really, the series truly soars - in the hinterlands of UP ( district of Chitrakut ) or Punjab where humanitarian values are often hidden in layers of dust, locked in broken vaults and forgotten about. The rustic charm of the countryside is traded in, for dusty warrens and narrow ghats of a dirty Jamuna. The cow-belt, the saffron robes and the tolling bells of cracked Ram-Mandirs form the perfect backdrop for the hinterland crime-drama to unfold, forming the legs and hands of something that mushroomed in the wicked heat of Delhi but finds root and purpose far away in these ram-karma bloomis.
So the twisted narrative starts with Hathi Ram Choudary ( Played out of his skin, by Jaideep Ahlawat) - a Delhi cop who's been struggling to get some kind of a recognition for his hard work but has always been ignored, due to perhaps his simplistic honesty. Hathi Ram gets unduly thrust into the limelight when a police task force apprehend four thugs in the middle of a bridge, within his jurisdiction and it accidentally comes to light, that the four were actually conspiring to assassinate a high profile TV journalist, Sanjeev Mehra. Further complications arise, as questioning reveals that one of the four, is actually a killer known as Hathoda Tyagi ( Hathoda, named for his weapon of choice to kill) who's got 45 murder cases to his name, back home in Chitrakut.
Trying to plumb the backstory behind the four thugs, Hathi ram and his trusted aide, Imran Ansari - a muslim cop studying hard for his UPSC finals - take the buses out from Delhi to the bucolic ramshackle streets of Chitrakut and Punjab respectively. This is where the mystery starts to become a lot more compelling. The third episode, named Wild Wild West traces the violent rise and spiralling descent into that dark well of crime - for Tope Singh, a low-caste from these villages of Punjab. Unable to suffer the tyranny of the bastardly higher castes of his village, Tope kills and maims his tormentors and makes it out to Delhi where he further gets dragged into that slush-pile of petty crime, to survive. The story of how Vishal Tyagi becomes Hathoda Tyagi is even more poignant. and perhaps, a lot more violent, in your face. But all of these Hathi Ram traces back to the lines drawn deeply into the society by the racial prejudices that govern their lives. The upper-castes strive to thwart the lower castes of their possessions - homes, land, property - even their relatives are fair game in this hunt. Especially the hapless women. There are three worlds, as described by Hathi ram who claims he is educated by Whatsapp, rather than the scriptures. The swarg Lok [ heaven, the glitzy media parties in the 5-star hotel lobbies] the dharti Lok [Earth, middle-class government quarters ] and the Pataal Lok [ the slums beyond outer Jamnaa par riddled with the scum of the earth, the creepy crawlies] - these worlds collide, enmesh and then come apart at the seams, quite regularly as is evidenced by the depth of the crimes planned and perpetrated by the biggies.
While there aren't too many 'strong' women leads in this whole story, there's Dolly (Sanjeev Mehra's anxiety-ridden wife who loves dogs) and Sara ( the plucky news reporter who stands for the truth) who play pivotal roles throughout the series. Hathi Ram's character is brilliantly written and is played to perfection by the tremendously talented Jaideep Ahlawat. When this guy burst onto the scene ( Shahid Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur - I) I really thought that this was an exceptionally talented actor. But it took a while for him to get his due [ His character of the RAW agent who trains Alia Bhatt's character in Raazi was perhaps, his next big break!] In Pataal Lok, he is a treat to watch. A hard working police officer, way out of his league with this kind of a big-case that the media is hungry to get behind of, Hathi Ram quickly muffs up the case that gets handed over to CBI - and doles out a suspension for the poor guy. But Hathi Ram is like a determined Bull dog, who doesn't shy away once he has caught the scent of blood. The forests of chitrakut becomes his reason for redemption now. There's this scene where he tells his police officials about how half his life, he lived as a loser in the eyes of his father. And now, he doesn't want to spend the other half of his life as a loser in the eyes of his son.
The anti-thesis to Jaideep's character is Neeraj Kabi's successful media journalist Sanjeev Mehra. Sharp as a hawk who seizes down on his opportunities without any remorse or care for the lives he wrecks, as long as he can take the limelight and take it by storm. He shines the mirror on the other side of life - the glitz and glamor of media limelight that hides the ugly truths of anxiety, depression in their personal lives and forces one to be callous and utterly ruthlessly selfish in one's ambition to make it big. I don't think I liked Neeraj Kabi's character any better than what he played in Sacred Games.
Which brings us to the secondary characters - like Hathi Ram's family. There is the son who strays into bad company ( his arc of redemption is pretty nicely done! ) or the hapless wife ( the only miscasting in this series, Gul Panag). The muslim cop sidekick Ansari is like the statement that the series makers have inserted into the whole proceedings against Hindutva. Forever questioned for his faith and belief [ His fellow cops gets sweets to celebrate while he is doing his fasting, the interview preps for UPSC features direct allusions to minority reservations and lots more] Abhishek Bannerjee, who plays Vishal Tyagi doesn't get to mouth too many lines. But his brooding menace and his sudden explosion into violence on screen, is definitely one of the highlights of the series. A casting coup surely. The others are also an ensemble cast and bring that kind of zeal and fervour this narrative requires of the characters.
A unhinged ride starting from the middle-class NMDC quarters to the rich Lutyens' bungalows of Delhi and then venturing out into the Wild Wild West of go-rakshak leaders and Dalit bahubalis who draw the lines in the hinterland politics - , Pataal Lok is a must-watch. Effortlessly wrangling in everyday news headlines about beef lynchings or the political stunts in UP to gain Dalit vote banks, Pataal Lok is a dangerous walk on the slippery edges of a Jamuna Paar Delhi that few of us, have really comprehended or can even attempt to do. Kudos to Sudip Sharma and team for having given us a gritty TV drama that is unsettling in its grim portrayal of the myriad evils that govern our society across all levels.
Set in the seedier outlands of Delhi ( Outer Jamnaa Paar ) Pataal Lok is a black noir thriller with mythological overtones, focused on the efforts of a down-on-his-luck honest but cynical cop, Hathi Ram Chaudhary's attempts to unravel the mystery behind a failed assassination attempt of a high-profile journalist. It succeeds at different levels, often because of the realistic treatment of the issues of casteism, racial prejudices and the political machinations that is weaved into the crime-narrative, rather than be just backdrops against which typically such crimes flourish. While the first couple of episodes lays the foundation for an intriguing mystery and assuredly plumbs the seedier parts of a Delhi, we have never seen really, the series truly soars - in the hinterlands of UP ( district of Chitrakut ) or Punjab where humanitarian values are often hidden in layers of dust, locked in broken vaults and forgotten about. The rustic charm of the countryside is traded in, for dusty warrens and narrow ghats of a dirty Jamuna. The cow-belt, the saffron robes and the tolling bells of cracked Ram-Mandirs form the perfect backdrop for the hinterland crime-drama to unfold, forming the legs and hands of something that mushroomed in the wicked heat of Delhi but finds root and purpose far away in these ram-karma bloomis.
So the twisted narrative starts with Hathi Ram Choudary ( Played out of his skin, by Jaideep Ahlawat) - a Delhi cop who's been struggling to get some kind of a recognition for his hard work but has always been ignored, due to perhaps his simplistic honesty. Hathi Ram gets unduly thrust into the limelight when a police task force apprehend four thugs in the middle of a bridge, within his jurisdiction and it accidentally comes to light, that the four were actually conspiring to assassinate a high profile TV journalist, Sanjeev Mehra. Further complications arise, as questioning reveals that one of the four, is actually a killer known as Hathoda Tyagi ( Hathoda, named for his weapon of choice to kill) who's got 45 murder cases to his name, back home in Chitrakut.
Trying to plumb the backstory behind the four thugs, Hathi ram and his trusted aide, Imran Ansari - a muslim cop studying hard for his UPSC finals - take the buses out from Delhi to the bucolic ramshackle streets of Chitrakut and Punjab respectively. This is where the mystery starts to become a lot more compelling. The third episode, named Wild Wild West traces the violent rise and spiralling descent into that dark well of crime - for Tope Singh, a low-caste from these villages of Punjab. Unable to suffer the tyranny of the bastardly higher castes of his village, Tope kills and maims his tormentors and makes it out to Delhi where he further gets dragged into that slush-pile of petty crime, to survive. The story of how Vishal Tyagi becomes Hathoda Tyagi is even more poignant. and perhaps, a lot more violent, in your face. But all of these Hathi Ram traces back to the lines drawn deeply into the society by the racial prejudices that govern their lives. The upper-castes strive to thwart the lower castes of their possessions - homes, land, property - even their relatives are fair game in this hunt. Especially the hapless women. There are three worlds, as described by Hathi ram who claims he is educated by Whatsapp, rather than the scriptures. The swarg Lok [ heaven, the glitzy media parties in the 5-star hotel lobbies] the dharti Lok [Earth, middle-class government quarters ] and the Pataal Lok [ the slums beyond outer Jamnaa par riddled with the scum of the earth, the creepy crawlies] - these worlds collide, enmesh and then come apart at the seams, quite regularly as is evidenced by the depth of the crimes planned and perpetrated by the biggies.
While there aren't too many 'strong' women leads in this whole story, there's Dolly (Sanjeev Mehra's anxiety-ridden wife who loves dogs) and Sara ( the plucky news reporter who stands for the truth) who play pivotal roles throughout the series. Hathi Ram's character is brilliantly written and is played to perfection by the tremendously talented Jaideep Ahlawat. When this guy burst onto the scene ( Shahid Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur - I) I really thought that this was an exceptionally talented actor. But it took a while for him to get his due [ His character of the RAW agent who trains Alia Bhatt's character in Raazi was perhaps, his next big break!] In Pataal Lok, he is a treat to watch. A hard working police officer, way out of his league with this kind of a big-case that the media is hungry to get behind of, Hathi Ram quickly muffs up the case that gets handed over to CBI - and doles out a suspension for the poor guy. But Hathi Ram is like a determined Bull dog, who doesn't shy away once he has caught the scent of blood. The forests of chitrakut becomes his reason for redemption now. There's this scene where he tells his police officials about how half his life, he lived as a loser in the eyes of his father. And now, he doesn't want to spend the other half of his life as a loser in the eyes of his son.
The anti-thesis to Jaideep's character is Neeraj Kabi's successful media journalist Sanjeev Mehra. Sharp as a hawk who seizes down on his opportunities without any remorse or care for the lives he wrecks, as long as he can take the limelight and take it by storm. He shines the mirror on the other side of life - the glitz and glamor of media limelight that hides the ugly truths of anxiety, depression in their personal lives and forces one to be callous and utterly ruthlessly selfish in one's ambition to make it big. I don't think I liked Neeraj Kabi's character any better than what he played in Sacred Games.
Which brings us to the secondary characters - like Hathi Ram's family. There is the son who strays into bad company ( his arc of redemption is pretty nicely done! ) or the hapless wife ( the only miscasting in this series, Gul Panag). The muslim cop sidekick Ansari is like the statement that the series makers have inserted into the whole proceedings against Hindutva. Forever questioned for his faith and belief [ His fellow cops gets sweets to celebrate while he is doing his fasting, the interview preps for UPSC features direct allusions to minority reservations and lots more] Abhishek Bannerjee, who plays Vishal Tyagi doesn't get to mouth too many lines. But his brooding menace and his sudden explosion into violence on screen, is definitely one of the highlights of the series. A casting coup surely. The others are also an ensemble cast and bring that kind of zeal and fervour this narrative requires of the characters.
A unhinged ride starting from the middle-class NMDC quarters to the rich Lutyens' bungalows of Delhi and then venturing out into the Wild Wild West of go-rakshak leaders and Dalit bahubalis who draw the lines in the hinterland politics - , Pataal Lok is a must-watch. Effortlessly wrangling in everyday news headlines about beef lynchings or the political stunts in UP to gain Dalit vote banks, Pataal Lok is a dangerous walk on the slippery edges of a Jamuna Paar Delhi that few of us, have really comprehended or can even attempt to do. Kudos to Sudip Sharma and team for having given us a gritty TV drama that is unsettling in its grim portrayal of the myriad evils that govern our society across all levels.
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