WEB SERIES REVIEW PAATAL LOK

Producers-Anushka Sharma and Karnesh Sharma

Directors- Avinash Arun and Prosit Roy

Star Cast-Jaideep Ahlawat, Swastika Mukherjee, Neeraj Kabi, Anandita Bose, Abhishek Bannerjee, Gul Panag, Anup Jalota, Niharika Lyra Dutt and Rajesh Sharma

Genre-Drama

Rating-***1/2

Gritty, Gripping & In Your Face!

Jyothi  Venkatesh

Loosely based on Tarun Tejpal's 2010 novel The Story of My Assassins, the series is about a disillusioned cop who lands the case of an assassination attempt gone wrong. Paatal Lok is a police-based investigative thriller inspired by the traditional concept of heaven, earth and the hell as metaphors for the different classes of India and the four estates

When a celebrity TV anchor a la Arnabh Goswami is the target of a group of killers, the case is handed over to a cynical, seen-it-all, from the wrong-side-of-the-tracks cop, and as he starts digging, startling connections between the most unlikely people in the most unlikely places start popping up. The thrilling premise spread out over nine episodes sets out to track the story of a worn-out Delhi cop Hathiram Chaudhary (Jaideep Ahlawat), who is at logger heads with a high profile journalist Sanjeev Mehra (Neeraj Kabi) and investigating the case of four suspects nabbed by the cops in a raid at a five star hotel in a murder conspiracy.  Mary Lyngdoh or Chin (Mairembam Ronaldo Singh) masquerades as a woman in order to earn a few bucks on the side and is arrested by the cops.

At home, Hathiram has to deal with his wife, Renu (Gul Panag) and wayward school going son, Siddharth (Bodhisattva Sharma). Sanjeev Mehra's wife Dolly (Swastika Mukherjee) is neurotic and yearns for a child while aspiring TV journalist Sara Mathews (Niharika Lyra Dutt) is working under Sanjeev Mehra and also having a torrid affair with him.

The highlight of the web series is, undoubtedly, Jaideep Ahlawat. His Hathi Ram Chaudhary is a man of many parts: exasperated and tender with his wife (Panag, ably supportive), an unsure but stern father with a rebellious teenage son, and desperate to get that one case that will make him come up tops. Ahlawat aces it; each line of his face denoting a life lived.

While Neeraj Kabi proves that he is an actor par excellence, the most intriguing role is played by Abhishek Chaudhary with aplomb as Hathoda Tyagi, the dead-eyed and extremely violent guy who erupts into a rage when his school going sisters are raped and killed or his loyal dogs are attacked. While Rajesh Sharma as a wily politician has even wasted with hardly any intensity or scope in his role, Anup Jalota springs a pleasant surprise as a politician, in his avatar as an actor. Gul Panag is as usual good. Swastika Mukherjee scores as the sexually starved wife of Sanjeev Mehra who desperately wants to be a mother while Niharika Lyra Dutt is superb as the assistant cum love interest of Sanjeev Mehra.

The best thing about the web series Paatal Lok is that not only has it been intelligently written, but it is also fast-paced, and engrossing, and is not only gritty but also gripping and what’s more, in your face. Kudos to Anushka Sharma for having made an attempt to make a content oriented web series