From its first dialogue Paatal Lok establishes a premise of class conflict, and the progression of the series holds fast to that idea, offering multiple dimensions and intricacies to weave an honest picture of the socio-economic realities of India today. The story itself is intriguing enough to hold the attention of the audience till the end, and its critical acclaim and wide viewership attest to it. The characters in this series are some of the best to emerge from the Indian entertainment industry, considering you will scarcely find one that is flat by any measure.
The story begins with the apprehension of four individuals charged with attempting to murder a prominent journalist, Sanjeev Mehra, in Delhi. The case is handed over to a small-time police officer, Hathi Ram Chaudhury, who sees it as his opportunity to climb the organizational ladder in the police force, and at the same time assert his position in society and his family. The investigation leads him and his Muslim deputy to uncover the true stories of the accused, slowly unveiling secrets and conspiracies that society rarely allows to surface in the public eye. The story ties a number of subplots together with these central characters, and each holds merit as they reveal social injustices and add human elements to it.
Readers concerned with spoilers should stop reading from this point onwards. While discussing this web-series, it is difficult to elude comparisons with Sacred Games, which came out in 2018 on Netflix. Unlike Saif Ali Khan’s Sartaj Singh, Chaudhury has none of the typical Hollywood cop elements such as – he needs medication, he is misunderstood, he is the only decent officer in the force, he has lost his family, etc. Chaudhury is a flawed human, but he is not stupid. He himself has prejudices that he battles, and he is desperately trying to grow out of toxic ideas of masculinity, while at the same time be assertive enough to do the right thing. This also helps farther the subplot involving him and his family.
Unlike Sacred Games, you will rarely find elements in Paatal Lok that were added for sheer shock value; in the case of Paatal Lok there is always some point to be proven. The use of expletives is perhaps more in tune with reality compared to how it was portrayed in Sacred Games, if you consider how unrealistic it is for Sartaj Singh to be hiding from his adversaries and cursing into his phone, which could potentially reveal his position. As far as writing is concerned, Paatal Lok gets most of the things Sacred Games attempted to do right.
The four would-be murderers each present a story of injustice. The Muslim driver cum carjacker, Kabir M, is the victim of communal violence, akin to stories that had emerged after Bhartiya Janata Party won the General Elections in 2014. The transgender woman, Mary Lyngdoh, tells the story of how street children are exploited in Urban Indian. Tope Singh, the unhinged Punjabi, who comes from a lower caste shows how powerless his people are against age old power structures. And finally Hathoda Tyagi, the seemingly remorseless murderer accused of killing forty odd individuals in cold blood, tells the story of how lower caste people are played by unscrupulous Brahmins appropriating Dalit politics.
Both in the case of Tope Singh and Tyagi, rape is used as a form of social punishment. There are elements that show how lower caste politics is either failing to upend existing unjust systems, or have been completely taken over by the upper caste usurpers posing as saviors, yet using the Dalit population as pawns to fulfill their political ambitions. Even the character of Chaudhury’s deputy, Imran Ali, has insights to offer. Here is a brilliant police officer who adheres to all the rules, plays by the book, but is only considered for promotion for optics on the condition that he is willing to turn a blind eye to injustices Muslims face in society.
Sanjeev Mehra’s story is also one that sheds light on token Indian liberalism. He is portrayed as a reporter who had once been outspoken against right-wing politics, but when presented with an opportunity to farther his career he swiftly changes sides to support the ruling party, and their rhetoric, as officials of the ruling party use the case to generate propaganda about a terrorist attack masterminded by Pakistani agencies.
Paatal Lok is undeniably rich in elements that uphold an honest portrayal of caste, class, and prejudice in present day India. For which there has also been backlash from right-wingers who support these hierarchal power structures, and disregard the reality of inequality and injustice stemming from it. The reaction from many Indians to this web-series is quite polarized. In the final scene, (spoiler alert) Chaudhury claims that the truly important people of India are the ones that dwell in the netherworld (Paatal Lok), and not the elites. Though this statement can be empowering, it also holds the capacity for placating the masses – something which the recent plethora of films and series dealing with inequality coming out of streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, have the capacity to achieve.