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Paatal Lok (Season 1): The Netherworld of Crime

by Tanish  

Overview

The life of a simple cop takes a swing as he accidentally lands a once in a lifetime case. Four unrelated criminals, tasked with the murder of a renowned journalist, get busted before the assassination. The whole plan looks like a twisted maze where things just don’t seem to tie up. The cop’s pursuit mission leads him to unravel dark secrets, which he discovers when he goes into the background of criminals involved. He finally unearths the real intent behind the master plan through a journey filled with horror and perils.

Story Line

Four criminals attempting to assassinate a renowned prime time show journalists are suspiciously caught by the Delhi police based on intel.

Hathi Ram, an average police inspector with Delhi Police, accidentally gets the charge of this high-profile case. After a preliminary investigation, Hathi Ram finds out that Vishal Tyagi, one of the four suspects, is a heinous criminal wanted for 45 brutal murders in Chitrakoot, a small village in Madhya Pradesh. When the interrogation leads to nowhere, Hathi Ram decides to visit Chitrakoot, where Vishal Tyagi grew up.

Trusting his instincts, Hathi Ram starts digging into the past of Vishal Tyagi. Meanwhile, his subordinate, Ansari, finds out about the dark history of Tope Singh, another suspect who grew up in a small village in Punjab. Hathi Ram is dejected when media gets the air of a small mistake his team committed early in the case and defames the Delhi Police. Upset, the Delhi Police suspends Hathi Ram and hands over the case to CBI.

CBI rubbishes the leads and linkages discovered by Hathi Ram and, based on their investigation, declares the four suspects as terrorists. Ansari notices something unusual during the press conference and is convinced that the CBI’s story is fabricated. When he shares the observation with Hathi Ram, the inspector decides to leave for Chitrakoot yet again, but this time, off duty.

From where he left, Hathi Ram connects the dots. He follows his instincts, which leads him to undertake a treacherous path where he finally unearths the shocking truth and discovers the ‘Master Ji.’

Key Characters

Hathi Ram Chaudhary

Sanjeev Mehera

Vishal Tyagi

My take on Paatal Lok

Paatal lok is full of plots and turns and does not reveal the real plan till its last episode, where Hathi Ram Chaudhary finally gets a breakthrough that Sanjeev Mehera was never a target, but someone else was.

Overall Paatal Lok revolves around the theme of interlinked corruption in all the three stages of the hierarchy (The Swarg Lok where Gods reside, The Dharti Lok where humans live and Patal Lok where demons reside).

From a criminal to a DCP to a Politician, the corruption goes on increasing up the hierarchy. In the last episode, Hathi Ram Chaudhary also states that he won’t expose any of the people linked with this plot since the exposure of the criminals would put his family in grave danger.

According to my understanding apart from corruption, the primary topic of discussion is the caste-based discrimination in our Country. We all say India is a democratic country, India is a developing and modern country, but the discrimination based on a person’s cast is en rooted in the system. India could only be a real democratic country if it helps the minority community grow instead of being evil to them.

Name: Paatal Lok

Genre: Drama

IMDB Rating: 7.5

Where to watch: Amazon Prime

Number of Seasons: 1

Number of Episodes: 9

Year of Release: 2020